


Family Isn't Always Blood

by Penning_the_stars



Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Captain Marvel (2019), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Anxiety, Aromantic Asexual Natasha Romanov, Asexual Bruce Banner, Attempted Murder, Beating, Bi Peter Parker, Body Dysphoria, Bullying, Child Abuse, Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Flash Thompson Bullies Peter Parker, Fluff, Gay Pride, Gen, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Homophobic Language, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Torture, Interns & Internships, Irondad, Kidnapping, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Nightmares, Nonbinary Character, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Past Torture, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Vision (Marvel), Psychological Torture, Science Experiments, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Spider Mom Natasha, Supportive Avengers, The two had it coming and fully deserved it, Threats of Violence, Torture, Trans Male Peter Parker, Unethical Experimentation, Violence, transphobic language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 88,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penning_the_stars/pseuds/Penning_the_stars
Summary: It was a simple school field trip to Stark Industries Tower (also known as the home of the Avengers, not to be confused with the workplace of the Avengers, that’s different). Sure it’s to what is basically Peter’s second home but in Manhattan, but still. It should be fine. I mean, how much trouble can a field trip really cause?It’s incredible, the butterfly effect. For example, a school trip to SI. Nothing note, you would say, that happens a lot. Oh, but this trip is the butterfly that triggers all the events of this tale. Watch, as a lowly field trip creates the baseline for events that prove the lovely line of “blood of the covenant is thicker than water of the womb”, also known as “family isn’t always blood”. And for that family, blood will be shed.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Loki & Thor, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Carol Danvers, Carol Danvers & Maria Rambeau & Monica Rambeau, Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau, Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Harley Keener/Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Loki & Peter Parker, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Shuri, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Comments: 1301
Kudos: 2161





	1. A Simple Field Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you quarantine for giving me too much time on my hands. This is going to be a small fic that I’ll be writing in my spare time. Updates will be sporadic at best, but whatever. 
> 
> Infinity War and Endgame happened, but they were only gone for five months and many things happened differently in Endgame that will be explained in these beginning chapters.

This all started because of a field trip. Peter didn’t know that, the Avengers definitely didn’t, even the ones guilty of starting this did not know that their greatest plan would hinge on a field trip. But, as the fates will have it, a field trip did indeed start what people began to call The Germany Meltdown. Or, as the series of Avenger-centered documentaries directed by Stan Lee named the movie, Avengers: Bonds of Blood and Love.

* * *

Peter groans. His alarm clock won’t... stop... beeping...

“Peter!” Aunt May yells. “Wake up, you have school today!”

“Wha?”

“School!”

“Oh shit!” Peter leaps out of his bed, slams the off button on the alarm, and rushes to get ready.

“Language!” his aunt calls as he runs into the bathroom.

“English!”

Once he’s ready, he calls out a “Bye May!” before snatching his lunch off the counter and sprinting out of the apartment.

On the subway, Peter goes through his messages and notifications. His messages are mainly Ned texting him about his latest LEGO set, with only one coming from MJ who was reminding him to not be late to Decathlon again, something about a surprise from Mr. Harrington. All the notifications are from his social media accounts, a couple people reblogged his posts on Tumblr and a lot of people liked his aesthetic pictures of the city on Instagram. Twitter was a different story, about a hundred likes had poured in after he dissed a homophobic and transphobic user. He smiles at the sight of that and screenshots it.

Once the train stops, Peter jumps out and runs to the school, just making it in time for the five minute bell. Quickly grabbing stuff from his locker, Peter rushes to his first class, thankfully making it with time to spare. 

“Dude, I was worried about you!” Ned complains after they do their handshake.

“Why’s that? I wasn’t late!”

“But you almost were.”

“I had thirty seconds! That’s plenty of time!”

“You and I both know that’s a lie.”

Then Flash interrupts their argument, smirking. “Aww, look at the nerd couple. It’s their first married argument!” 

Ned and Peter glare at him. “Flash, for the hundredth time we’re not a couple!”

“Besides, I’m straight,” Ned adds.

“And even if he wasn’t, we wouldn’t be a couple. Ned’s my best friend, my bro.”

Ned grins and dramatically gasps. “Bro...”

Peter starts fake crying. “I know bro, I know.”

“Best bros for life.” Ned’s pretending to hold back tears.

“For forever.”

“ _Bro_...”

Flash sneers, confused as to what he just saw, and walks back to his seat.

Miss Dar runs into the classroom, a pen in her hair and papers threatening to slip from her grip. “I’m here I swear!” she yells before actually looking around. “Wait, why am I at school?”

“Miss Dar, you’re our teacher,” Betty helps, everyone use to their teacher’s occasional memory lapses in the mornings.

“Really?” Then it clicks. “Oh shoot, I’m so sorry everyone! I promise I’m trying to be better about this, really I am.”

“It’s okay Miss Dar, we know you’re trying,” Peter reassures. Miss Dar is really nice to everyone and has helped him with anxiety attacks in the past. She’s also the first teacher he told when he started to transition, and she’s the one who helped him talk to the other teachers and school board. Because of her, nobody is transphobic to him inside the school (mostly because she held an all school assembly and basically went through a fifty slide presentation on LGBT rights). No one hates her, even Flash.

“Right right, thank you Betty and Peter, now class, where did we leave off?”

School continues like that, Peter rushing around the school to get to classes and taking notes. Lunch comes and goes, MJ spends it quizzing the two on a test next week. Then it’s the last classes of the day and suddenly Peter’s in Decathlon practice. Mr. Harrington claps for the team’s attention, which fails.

MJ yells, “Shut up!” Instantly the group is silent and she nods at Mr. Harrington to talk.

“Thank you MJ. Now gang, the school has pulled some strings and has granted us a tour to a very important company here in New York. Drum roll please...”

The team reluctantly starts up a drum roll. Last time the school ‘pulled some strings’, they ended up at Oscorps. Peter hated it due to being bitten by a radioactive spider and the other kids were bored the whole time.

“We... are..... going to.....” He pauses dramatically. “Stark Tower!”

Everyone screams in excitement as Peter blinks. 

He’s happy, sure, but it’s going to be a bit weird to be touring a place he considers his second home.

“Peter this is awesome!” Ned shrieks, fanboying. “I’ve always dreamed of working there and now I’m going to _be_ there!”

“Yeah it's great, but I go everyday.”

“Oh right.”

Mr. Harrington struggles to bring the group back together until MJ yells at them again. She’d been quiet the whole time, only smiling a little at the announcement.

“Thank you MJ. There are permission slips for your guardian to sign, I need these back two days from now. The trip is next week Friday, for the entire day. Your teachers have been notified, make sure you get your work done ahead of time!” He passes out the permission slips to the kids.

For the rest of the meeting they quizzed each other and studied their notes. 

After that, Peter walks to the Tower. He talks with the receptionists for a bit, Ava is hoping to propose to her long time partner tomorrow and Dave is thinking about adopting a parrot, but soon goes up to his lab to start working.

FRIDAY interrupts maybe thirty minutes later. “Peter, Lab 67 requests your assistance on some equations.”

“Sure, tell them I’ll be right down,” Peter replies, setting down his pliers. He walks down, checks the equations, talks with the interns there for a while before heading back up to his lab. Once it hits 6:30 Mr. Stark walks in and drags him out of the lab for dinner, per Bucky’s request.

“Peter! Try these.” Bucky shoves a cookie in Peter’s hand before swatting away Clint. Peter bites into it and instantly smiles. It tastes like the embodiment of warmth and joy, with hints of caramel. 

“Oh my gods,” he manages to moan out. 

Bucky laughs. “So it’s good?” Peter nods vigorously. “Alright, we’ll have them after dinner.”

“Aww c’mon Bucky,” Clint whines.

“No. Cookies. Till. After. Dinner.” Bucky’s Winter Soldier face™ is engaged so Clint squeaks and dives over the couch in terror.

Nat strolls in and steals Peter from Tony, sitting them down on the couch. “FRIDAY, continue the movie.”

They sit there contently as Peter quietly talks to Nat about his day as the others slowly fill up the seats. 

“Dinner’s ready,” Steve calls from the kitchen. He and Bucky put all the food on the table and they eat.

“So, ya stayin’ over or leavin’?” Clint asks, for some reason putting on a southern accent.

“Sorry, I’m leaving.”

“Aww,” the Avengers sigh, disappointed. 

“I know I know, but Friday I’ll be staying. After all, it’s movie night.”

FRIDAY speaks up. “Peter, you’d better leave soon to fit in your preferred two hours of patrol before curfew.”

“Okay thanks Fri.” Peter gets and hugs everyone before grabbing his bag and jumping out the window.

“Ya know that used to terrify me,” Sam mutters, staring at the rapidly fading figure called Spider-Man.

“Used to?” Tony grumbles, sipping his coffee. “It still scares the hell out of me.”

“Yeah because he’s your kid,” Sam shoots back.

Thursday afternoon, the next day...

“Hey Peter, when were you going to tell us about your field trip?” Nat asks, waving a copy of the permission slip.

“Never,” he replies. “Besides it’s already been signed and turned in, how’d you get a copy?”

“Your aunt,” Nat supplies.

“She swore she wouldn’t tell!”

“Oh she didn’t _tell_ me per say, all she did was send my a copy. I simply connected the dots.”

“You connected shit,” Harley says walking in.

“I connected the dots,” Nat insists, fluent in gen Z.

“Language!” Steve yells from two floors down. The three roll their eyes but Harley drops a dollar in the swear jar.

“Russian!” Bucky yells from a floor above.

“Binary,” Vision states as he flies through the wall. 

“I thought you were American!” Clint yells from yells from the vents.

Tony sighs from the elevator and goes back to his lab, not ready to deal with gen Z humor from his weird family right now.

“Regardless ребенок паук, you can bet I’ll be telling the team about this,” Nat says, confirming Peter’s suspicions.

“Ooo what’s going on?” Harley asks, grabbing the slip from Nat. He reads it, grinning. “Aww sweetheart this is great!”

“I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m just saying I’d rather have a normal field trip for once,” Peter replies. 

“Impossible darlin’,” Harley kisses Peter’s cheek. “You’re Peter Parker, there’s no way you could have a normal field trip.”

Nat nods in agreement, smirking as Peter blushes at his boyfriend. “Fine fine, tell the whole family!” Peter gives in.

“You sure ребенок паук? I won’t if you really don’t want me to.”

“I’m sure мама паук.”

Later, after dinner...

“Peter has a field trip here next Friday for the entire day,” Nat says as she helps with dishes.

Everyone pauses, then the team smirks and grins evilly at Peter.   
  
“Please don’t embarrass me!” he pleads. “No pranks and no retelling of embarrassing moments. Just a normal field trip.”

“No such thing,” Tony quips.

“Can we at least show up?” Wanda asks.

“Sure, whatever. Just don’t be suspicious.”

“Alright,” the team says, agreeing to Peter’s terms.

Harley sidles up to Tony. “So can I guide the tour?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Tony replies, smirking. “I’m calling up Thor and Loki to see if they can come too.”

“Awesome.”


	2. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The field trip begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: details of a panic attack. While I personally haven’t experienced panic attacks, I did do some research to make sure this was accurate and what I was going for.
> 
> Also my new motto is “fuck stuff up and don’t die”. Keeps me sane when I’m stuck in a house with my family for the next month or more.

Next Friday quickly found Peter passed out in his bed, an equally unconscious Harley spooning him in said bed after Peter refused to let go of him when Harley brought him to Peter’s room from their shared lab. 

“Peter and Harley, you really should get up,” FRIDAY urges for the third time this morning. “If you don’t get up soon you’ll miss breakfast.”

Karen starts playing ‘Guns and Ships’.

The two boys leap up, belting Lafayette’s part like pros. 

“Boys you’re about to miss breakfast,” Karen says after turning off the music.

As one the couple run out of the room, skidding into the kitchen with bleary eyes but strong wills to get coffee. 

“Hey kids,” Steve greets, sipping coffee from his Winter Soldier mug and sketching in his pad.

Harley grunts and pours out two mugs of coffee from the full pot. Peter nods a hello as he adds a sickening amount of sugar and milk and then downs it in five seconds flat. Steve notices that Harley’s nursing his black coffee from a Spider-Man mug and Peter’s refilling his Iron Mercy cup, which there technically shouldn’t even be one of because of Iron Mercy not being out to the public yet. He smirks at the genius lovebirds and goes back to his sketch.

Looking more awake, Peter asks, “Hey Steve where’s Bucky.”

“Sleeping in as usual,” Steve replies, rolling his eyes fondly.

“Привет бейби паук и картошечный ребенок-картошка,” Nat says as she walks in.

“Привет мама паук,” Peter responds happily, starting to make toast.

“доброе утро мама паук,” Harley grumbles out, eyes slowly becoming more bright as the coffee starts to take affect.

“I’m still impressed you managed to teach them Russian so quickly,” Clint comments, flipping out of the vents and perching himself on the counter.

“They’re geniuses, of course they learned quickly.” Tony walks in and steals an apple from the fruit basket. “And Peter, you have ten minutes before Happy takes you to school.”

“K thanks,” Peter answers from around the piece of toast he shoved in his mouth. He heads back to his room and throws on a science pun t-shirt, some jeans, and a hoodie he stole from Harley. Grabbing his backpack, he double checks that his phone is in his pocket before going back out. “Love ya Harls,” Peter says, kissing his boyfriend’s cheek before getting into the elevator and going down to the garage. Happy drives him to school, Peter shooting a good bye over his shoulder as he walks out and over to his friends. 

“Hey loser,” MJ says as a way of greeting, not looking up from her book. 

“Peter!! This is going to be so cool right!?” Ned squeals, the biggest smile on his face.

Peter smiles back at him and nods. Ever since the Snap, Ned’s been more subdued than normal. He was one of the ones who didn’t dust but his mom and sisters did, along with MJ and Peter. His father told Peter quietly behind closed doors that Ned had slipped into depression and had actually shut off his emotions for a while. Seeing Ned happy made Peter happy, knowing how hard the past months have been on him and knowing it also meant that he was starting to recover. 

“Hey Penis, surprised to see you actually show up!” Flash yells from his group of lackeys.

“Ignore him Peter,” Ned advises as MJ flips Flash off.

“Alright team,” Mr. Harrington claps his hands to get the teens’ attention. “The bus is here so let’s get in a line and get on it!”

The gathered teens chatter as they get on, MJ forcing her way to the back with Ned and Peter following closely behind her. The two boys sit in the back, MJ taking the seat across the aisle from them. Another teacher, Ms Purl, climbs in last. They needed a second teacher and she was pressed into going. She hates Peter’s guts.

Mr. Harrington takes a head count then tells the bus driver it’s okay to go. “Okay team it’s an hour commute to the Avengers Tower so settle down and get comfortable,” he says before sitting down and starting his Netflix. Ms Purl sneers at him and starts grading papers.

Peter follows Mr. Harrington’s model, hitting shuffle on his playlist and shifting in the bus seat to try and get comfortable. He looks out at the buildings and streets, still surprised after a month after the Reverse Snap how much everything’s changed. No new buildings were built but many are run down or abandoned because of the lost will to keep them up. Construction from before the Snap is still how it was then, workers having to clean up the abandoned sites before continuing work. 

But it is starting to brighten up because of the return of those lost. Several homes have new paint jobs or are staring new paint jobs and the trash that had piled up during the five months in between the Snap and the Reverse Snap has been picked up by now. 

It’s still weird to think he lost five months when he dusted and then came back on Titian to Dr. Strange telling him the Avengers needed everyone. To him it felt like he’d gone from one battle to feeling his body turn into dust and then he was back and thrown into another battle. Only this one was worse, there were more aliens and the ground was so torn up and full of sharp metal pieces. His senses screamed at him every second, Peter actually had to close his eyes and trust completely in his senses to keep him safe because he couldn’t comprehend what was happening fast enough. Then there was Mr. Stark and he started to ramble on about what had happened when he pulled Peter into a hug. He actually kissed Peter on the cheek like how his parents used to before they died. And how Ben used to, before Peter insisted he was too old for it. That was the day Ben was killed. And then suddenly he was thrown back into battle, taking the gauntlet and running around trying to get it to the van and not die and there were so many lasers and shots and it was so loud and it was overwhelming and-

“Peter!” MJ whisper-yells, shaking him awake with a gasp. 

“What-”

“Panic attack,” Ned answers, whispering like MJ.

That’s when he notices his accelerated breathing and out of control senses. And the walls start to close in. And he can’t breath. There’s no air. He’s suffocating, no air no air no air no air he’s going to die in space and May’ll never know and May’ll be all alone and there’s no air he can’t breath and his body’s in pain his particles are dusting and he can feel it he can feel it all and it’s so loud someone’s playing music and it’s so loud and the trucks are blowing their horns and the cars are screaming past and people are screaming as they fall down and it’s chaos and people are dying and he can’t do anything he can’t do anything there’s nothing he can do and metal is straining above him and concrete is pushing down and he can’t breath he can’t breath there’s no room and it’s so loud and there’s no air no air and his skin is breaking apart and he can taste blood and he can’t breath- 

Something slips over his ears. It’s dead quiet. And there’s a hand on his chest, pressing enough to feel it over his heart. His hand is on someone’s chest and he can feel their breath. His hand is being held in a firm but gentle grip. The breath is steady, constant. He latches on to it, tries to copy it. There’s a beat to it, one one one in, one one one out. One two three, easy as can be. One two three in, one two three out. 

He keeps his eyes closed, focusing on the beat. One two three, one two three. He matches it, he can feel his lungs and the other’s lungs moving in tandem. One two three. One two three. One two three. One two three.

Once he’s calmed down, Peter breathes in deeply and pulls back his hand. The hand on his chest disappears too. He cracks open his eyes, blinking back away the crusty salt from dried tears to see a worried MJ and Ned in front of him. MJ is closer so he assumes she was the one who helped him with the panic attack. He slowly pushes one earpiece away from his ear, flinching at the noise. It’s not overwhelming, just loud.

“Thanks,” he whispers. 

They smile half-heartedly, concern evident in their faces.

“Just glad you’re okay,” Ned eventually replies, hugging Peter as best he can with MJ in the way. 

“Yeah,” MJ agrees, joining the hug. Peter grins, hugging his friends tightly.

Once they break the hug, Peter shrugs off Harley’s stolen hoodie and tries to wipe off the sweat. Ned opens Peter’s backpack and pulls out a flannel shirt he tossed in a week ago and passes it to him. Peter thanks him and wipes himself down as well as he can, resolving to keep the hoodie off for now. MJ passes out some health bars she keeps in her backpack, tossing Peter a Gatorade. They’ve all gotten pretty used to panic attacks; even back before the Vulture Peter had panic attacks. MJ admitted after the Snap that she suffered from panic attacks too, though hers were less memory-triggered and more sense triggered. That’s when they started aggressively packing in case of panic attacks, each backpack now stocked with bars and water or Gatorade plus MJ’s first aide kit she brought with her everywhere.

 _His friends are the best,_ Peter thinks as Ned starts talking about a new Buzzfeed video he saw and MJ smirks good-naturedly over the top of her book. 

“Alright everyone, we’re here!” Mr. Harrington declares maybe twenty minutes later. Ms Purl sighs and gathers her papers.

“Ready to be exposed Penis?” Flash yells from the front of the bus.

“Eugene if you don’t stop we’re going to start thinking you want Peter exposed,” MJ fires back. “And I don’t mean figuratively.”

The whole team says a collective “ooo burn” and Flash sputters like a homophobe when presented with facts. Needless to say, Flash doesn’t bother them when they get off the bus. But someone else does.

“Michelle Jones we don’t use such language!” Ms Purl scolds. “If I hear you saying such things again you will spend the rest of the trip outside the tower with me.”

MJ rolls her eyes and ignores her.

The team walks through the doors and are greeted by one of receptionists, Dave. He smiles politely at the group and says, “Midtown Decathlon team?”

“Yes that’s us,” Mr, Harrington confirms.

“Your tour guide will be here soon, please wait here and don’t touch anything until they come down.” Then he sees Ned. “Hey Ned,” he calls.

“Hey Dave!” Ned greets, waving.

“Are Peter and MJ here as well?”

“Yep,” Peter and MJ confirm, walking over.

“Good to see you guys again,” Dave says.

“Good to see you too Dave. How’s Alana?” Peter asks.

“She’s great, she’s adapted really well to the apartment. Hasn’t figured out how to open the cabinets so I’m grateful fo that.”

“Oh right you got parrot recently!” Ned comments.

“What species is she?” MJ asks, book away in her backpack.

“African Grey,” Dave happily answers. “They’re one of the most studied parrot species and are very intelligent.”

“Miss Jones, Mr. Leeds, and Miss Parker!” Ms Purl yells, stalking over at the group. Peter winces at the use of female pronouns. “Why are you bothering the receptionist?!”

“Actually ma’am I’ve meet these three before, we were just catching up,” Dave replies icily. “And it’s Mr. Parker.”

She takes a half-step back, intimidated by the young adult. “I was just making sure,” she defends. “They are troublesome children, especially young Parker.”

Dave glances over at Peter, seeing the way he curls into himself slightly in fear. Anger pulses through his veins but he’ll let the Avengers and Harley deal the teacher. He needs to pretend to be polite, at least for now. “Riiiiight,” he says skeptically. 

The elevator dings and Harley steps out into the lobby. “Hey I’m here for the tour group?” 

“Harley?” Peter gasps, eyes brightening up when he sees his boyfriend. 

“Hey darlin’,” Harley flirts, going up and wrapping his arms around Peter’s waist. Resting his head on top of the shorter boy’s head, he turns to Ned, MJ, and Dave. “Hey Ned, scary woman number 3, sup Dave? How’s the parrot?”

“Hi Harley,” the two students reply.

“She’s doing great!” Dave responds, smiling at the mention of his parrot. “I’m assuming you’re the tour guide?”

“Yep, managed to convince the old man it would a good idea,” Harley says, still hugging Peter. “I’m guessing I have to alert Happy so I can get the badges?”

Dave is about to confirm when Ms Purl speaks up. “Excuse me, but aren’t you too young to be a tour guide here?”

“I go to MIT and am a personal intern to Tony Stark. I assure you ma’am, I’m more than qualified,” Harley snaps back. “FRIDAY, can you alert Happy that I need those badges now?”

“He is already on his way Potato Boi,” FRIDAY responds. 

“I told the old man to change that,” Harley mutters under his breath. Peter giggles but Ms Purl glares at him so he stops. His friends and boyfriend frown at that and Harley adds her to his hate list.

“Okay I’m here,” Happy says, walking off the elevator.

“Great.” Harley detaches from Peter and walks over to the team. “Alright Midtown, I’m Harley, your tour guide for the day. Over here is Happy Hogan, our head of security. He has the badges you’ll need to go on this tour. When you get it, please clip it to the outmost piece of clothing you have, somewhere where it’s visible at all times. Once that’s done walk through the scanner over here and wait on the other side.”

Happy, looking the opposite of his name, reads off names in a monotone and hands the corresponding badge to the teen. Peter, MJ, and Ned pull out their badges. MJ’s Pepper’s personal intern and Ned’s been coming to the tower a lot to visit his friends. Peter and MJ know Bruce has been considering a internship for Ned because of his coding skills and the two are excited for their friend.

Betty ends up going through the scanner first, jumping slightly when FRIDAY speaks. “Betty Brant, Level 1 Color Yellow, tour member, no weapons.”

“Relax,” Harley calls out, “that’s just FRIDAY, the AI for the building.”

“And what exactly are the levels? And the color thing?” Abe asks, standing in front of the scanner nervously.

“There’s a bunch of levels, too many to explain right now. The colors are basically the overall grouping of levels. It goes by rank and/or department. Yellow is the lowest, then there’s Orange, Purple is R&D, Green is Dr. Banner’s teams so codes, bio tech, and chemical stuff, there’s Silver which is mechanics and the actual building of stuff, White is the meeting and conference rooms, Blue which is testing, and finally Red for the Avengers and Avengers related things. Bunch of labs, the med bay, living areas, gaming system, gyms, meeting rooms, weapons rooms, a whole lot. Oh, and Mrs. Potts’ headquarters. She’s in between the Avengers area and the rest of the tower. Sometimes the colors are combined when people have overlapping jobs. Anyways, starting going kids.”

They go through, Ms Purl going after Abe and Mr. Harrington going in after a majority of the kids are on the other side. Soon, it’s just Flash, MJ, Ned, Peter, and Harley. 

“How’d you get badges nerds?” Flash mocks. “The guard didn’t even call out your names.”

“We have our own, duh,” Peter sasses. 

“Yeah right Penis, I bet you stole them!”

“Excuse me, Eugene was it?” Harley comments, stepping into his personal space. “We here at the tower have a strict no bullying policy so if FRIDAY or any staff people hear you say things like that we’ll kick you out without warning. Got it?” He growls the last part.

Flash nods, intimidated, and walks through the scanner.

“Alright Ned, you show ’em how real badge holders do it,” Harley says, just loud enough to catch the attention of the group. 

Ned smiles and walks through. “Ned Leeds, Level 85 Color Red, friend of personal interns, no weapons,” is FRIDAY’s reading.

“Holy hell,” someone whispers, stunned.

MJ smirks and walks through. “MJ, Level 96 Color Red White, personal intern to Mrs. Potts, authorized weapons.” 

Everyone gasps when they realize she works with Pepper, but no one’s surprised to hear she has weapons on her.

Harley bows to Peter. “You first sweetheart,” he drawls, laying his southern accent on thick. Peter giggles and rolls his eyes fondly, walking through the scanner.

“Peter Parker, Level 100 Color Red Green Blue Silver, personal intern to Mr. Stark and [classified], authorized weapons. Boss would like to inform you that Reindeer Games and Point Break are due to arrive in ten minutes. Also Lab 68 is requesting your help on Project R, Mark 10 when you are available.”

“Thanks Fri, tell Marissa and the team I’ll drop by at lunch,” Peter replies, smiling up at the ceiling like he normally does.

“Fucking hell,” someone whispers in the silence. 

Harley laughs and walks through. “Harley Keener, Level 100 Color Red Blue Silver, personal intern to Mr. Stark and [classified], authorized weapons. I assume you heard Spiderbaby’s announcements therefore I have nothing to say,” FRIDAY says.

“Okay Fri, tell the old man to get Loki and Thor to visit us when they have a chance, haven’t seen them since last week.”

“I-I must say, Miss Jones and Parker you need to hand over all weapons-” Ms Purl starts to say before Harley cuts her off.

“No can do, they’re required because of their jobs. Peter’s weapons are also stiff he’s been working on, right darlin’?” Peter nods. “There, you see? No problems there. But there is one problem still here and that’s your use of pronouns. Here at SI and any Avengers facility, we use the pronouns requested by the person. _Peter_ is a _male_ and uses _he/him_ pronouns. This is a safe environment for everyone and we have a large population of genderqueer and gender nonconforming people. It’d be best if you shut up and use the correct pronouns otherwise I’ll be forced to call Happy and have him toss you out of here. Understand?”

Shoved through gritted teeth, she confirms.

“Wonderful! Any questions before we start?” A guy named Tyler raises his hand hesitantly. “Yeah?”

“Um, why did the AI-”

“FRIDAY.”

“Right, okay, why did FRIDAY call Peter ‘Spiderbaby’?”

Harley laughs as Peter groans. “Why don’t you answer that sweetheart?”

“There was a spider in the labs and I may have screamed and let slip that I hate spiders so Harley changed my name to Spiderbaby.”

“And what was it before that?” a girl named Sally asks.

“I can’t remember...” Peter trails off. “Fri, what was my nickname before Spiderbaby?”

“Cinnamon Roll,” FRIDAY answers.

“Accurate,” the group says. Peter blushes and Harley kisses Peter’s check. 

“They’ve got a point. Now,” he claps his hands, “who’s ready for the tour?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation:  
> “ Привет бейби паук и картошечный ребенок-картошка ” - “Hello baby spider and potato child.”  
> “ Привет мама паук ” - “Hi mama spider.”  
> “ доброе утро мама паук ” - “Good morning mama spider.”
> 
> Alright, second chapter is out! The way things are going I’m aiming to post the next chapter on Monday, but that might be pushed back to Tuesday depending on how much virtual school drains me. Stay safe kiddos!! :)


	3. R&D and Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to R&D and Level Green labs. Stuff happens and they’ve now survived two fires in two hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really want to get this out quickly but I’m trying to keep the word count as high as I can and do this story justice. Sorry for any inconvenience. 
> 
> Also school sucks and has depleted my will to live more than usual.
> 
> POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING: 1) There is a low key poly relationship with three throwaway characters in the first half of this that’s only relevant/mentioned in four lines. Just warning y’all in case it makes you uncomfortable. 2) swearing. 3) brief mention of suicidal thoughts.

“Alright, first up on the tour: the Heroes Museum. I’ll go through it quick then y’all’ll have some time to look at it more in-depth.” The elevator doors open behind Harley. “First up, Steve Rodgers aka: Captain America.” He leads them to a glass case full of Steve’s old uniforms and stuff. Peter would have tuned out right about now but Harley’s commentary is hilarious. “He’s roughly 100 years old by now but is mentally about 33-ish, used to be a twink but took a serum and became the super soldier we know, and his only weapon is his shield made of vibranium Howard technically stole from Wakanda but that’s been cleared up by the King. Relationship status is: he’s been in a relationship with Bucky since 1925 and they’re still going strong. Next, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes aka the White Wolf, formerly known as the Winter Soldier.” Again Harley leads the group over to Bucky’s case. “He’s 101 but is mentally 34-ish, was a normal human until HYDRA experimented a serum similar to Steve’s on him and eventually gave him a robotic arm along with brainwashing, his main weapons are knives, any type of gun, and his new vibranium arm created by the Princess of Wakanda, aka Shuri the meme queen. As I already said, Steve’s his boyfriend.”

The class laughs at that. It continues like that, Harley naming the hero, giving their age, how they got powers/became a hero, weapons, and relationship status. 

“Then there’s Carol Danvers also known as Captain Marvel. She’s technically 58 but due to shit going down looks about 29, was a human until she got exposed to the Tesseract’s energy aka the Space Stone and had a blood transfusion that turned her into a Kree, and her weapon is herself and the energy she absorbed. I can’t remember if she’s got a girlfriend. Peter, does Aunt Carol have a girlfriend?”

“Um, I think she has a wife and kid she moved from Earth to space a while ago, but we haven’t been introduced yet so I’m not sure.” Ms Purl shoots him a dirty look he pretends to not see.

“Thanks darlin’. After her is the old man, Anthony Stark aka Iron Man. He’s 48 and already has grey hair, got captured by terrorists and escaped with the Mark 1 of the Iron Man suit, and his weapons are his brains, suit, money, and sheer will to defy everyone.” Peter snorts at that. “He’s a single father at the moment.”

“Father?” Betty asks.

“Yeah, he’s basically the pseudo father of everyone here, most especially Peter, Nebula, Gamora, Shuri, and all the AIs. Right FRIDAY and Karen?”

“Yes.”

“Yep!”

“Who’s Karen?” Abe asks.

“Peter’s AI. Anyways, after Tony is James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes aka War Machine. He’s 50, Tony gave him a suit and that’s how he became a hero, his weapons are blasters, the guns in the suit, and the robotic legs he has. He’s single as a Pringle right now.”

And it just keeps going. He calls Thor a quote “Pan man who has made it his life goal to play matchmaker to lesbians”, Loki a “emotionally damaged and abused genderfluid snek boi”, Nat a “Russian murder child who adopts any strays she finds, like Peter and I”, and Spider-Man a “whole cinnamon roll and snacc baked into a beautiful corgi bun” and commented that he’d “tap all of that, but [he] met Peter first so [he] can’t”. 

“And now children, I set you free. Meet back here in thirty minutes,” Harley finishes. They scatter, most going to Steve or Tony’s boxes. 

Ned drags Peter and MJ to Bruce’s box, all three geeking out over one of their favorite scientists. Harley joins them and keeps an arm wrapped around Peter’s shoulders as his nerd argues with MJ and Ned over which of Bruce’s papers was the best. After a while they move on, MJ having them move to Nat’s box so she can gather evidence for her next essay on the unrecognized complexity of female superheroes in both the real and fictional world. Once they have ten minutes left, they drift over to Clint’s box, showcasing old versions of his hearing aids and arrows. Peter and Ned debate whether the archer could beat one of the main villains by himself while MJ and Harley have a conversation on all the uses of hearing aids to kill someone. 

Eventually the thirty minutes are up and Harley kisses Peter sweetly on the lips before slaughtering over to the meeting place and gathering the group back up. Flash knocks Peter to the ground from behind and walks closer to the group as Peter picks himself up. 

“Could always punch him,” MJ suggests under her breath. “One good punch to the jaw and boom, he’s out for the night.”

“No MJ,” Peter replies calmly, dusting off his pants.

“Aww c’mon, I won’t break him jaw, just a good bruise for a couple days.”

“As much as I wish I could say yes, no.”

MJ is about to argue her point when Ms Purl walks over to them. “Be quiet Misses Jones and Parker! We are waiting to listen to our guide! One more mistake and I’ll have to give you two detention.” As she walks away to yell at some other kids Ned sticks out his tongue at her back and MJ flips the bird. It brings a small smile to Peter’s face.

Harley starts talking then. “Okay, next up is the R&D labs. They’re going to talk to you for a bit, then there’s a Q&A, and then there might be a project of some kind, I don’t really know. Into the elevator kids!”

They fit themselves into the elevator and soon FRIDAY announces their arrival at the correct floor before opening the doors to a robot on fire, papers flying everywhere, a couple college students lying on the floor, and other students screaming at their computers, and one student running after the on-fire-robot brandishing a fire extinguisher. 

Harley and Peter jump into action, Peter cornering the robot so Kylie could extinguish the flames while Harley helps up the students on the floor and encourages them to collect the flying papers. They tag team the screaming students, easing the students down from their break downs and settling them down on the couches in a corner as the other fixes their work on the computer. 

Once it’s calmer, Peter introduces the decathlon team to the lab team. “So this is Kylie, the leader of this team. Then there’s Franklin, Ash, and Raven, those are the floor kids. The mental break down kids are Phi, Dee, and Eden. They have exams soon.”

“Accurate description of us,” Kylie comments as she wrestles the robot back into a charging spot. Standing up, she smiles warmly at the shocked teens. “So welcome to R&D, where we have stuff on fire regularly and a mental break down happens every day. This is Lab 48, also known as the Fire Kids. Any questions for us?”

“Why are you called the Fire Kids?” Abe asks.

“All labs have a nickname, it’s the only way we know which one is which. We happen to be the lab with the most fires/explosions incidents.”

“Ten thousand seven hundred three and counting!” Dee cheers from the couch.

“Our record is twenty in one day,” Raven adds.

“We’re on number five right now,” Kylie finishes. “Next?”

“What were you working on?” Henry asks.

“Oh, Lawrence over there? He’s supposed to be a study bot, something to help student study for tests and exams while keeping them organized. As you can see, it didn’t exactly go the way we were hoping. Ten bucks says Silver messed up the schematics again.”

“Wanna send it to Blue to get the official results or should we just send it back to Silver?” Franklin asks, stacking papers.

“Let me look over the schematics again before you start yelling at Silver,” Raven begs Kylie. 

“Fine,” Kylie gives in. “But if by the end of the day you can’t find a mistake I’m yelling at them.”

“Deal.”

“Any other questions?”

“What’s the minimum age requirement to work here?” Greg asks.

“Eighteen, and you have to be damn good too. Or, if you have an IQ to rival Stark or Bruce’s, you can join whenever with guardian permission. Everyone in this lab is in college currently, so the average age is about twenty I think.”

“By Bruce do you mean the Hulk?” Flash asks snobbishly.

“I mean Bruce Banner,” Kylie snaps back. “And I recommend you remember that.”

“Okay, thank you Kylie,” Ash says swooping in before they have to fill out a witness statement of a murder of a minor. “I’ll take ya back to the area we set up for ya.” They open a back door and beckon the group in. Once they’re all there, they go on. “You have one hour to build something. It has to be able to move and must be original. You can work in groups of up to three. Go!”

The team surges at the pile of metal and spare parts in the back of the room. 

“Peter and Ned, I think Kylie had your project brought down and MJ I believe Ms. Potts sent you some papers,” Ash says before plopping down on a chair and pulling out their phone.

Mr. Harrington smiles and pulls out his earbuds and phone, continuing his Netflix show. Ms Purl watches the students, utter distaste in ever look she gives.

Ned and Peter get started immediately. The project they were talking about is a prototype of BB-9 they’ve working on, hopefully to be used by Lucasfilm in the last Star Wars movie, Rise of Skywalker. MJ chills next to them, reading through the papers Pepper sent her. Harley sits next to her, suggesting stuff to the two nerds.

“Time!” Ash calls after an hour. “Drop your tools and step away from the projects!” Everybody does just that, standing by their work proudly as Ash calls in Phi and Eden. “Okay gang, we’ll be judging your work and then appoint the winner!

They work through the room slowly, really assessing every detail and recommending ways to improve it. Then they get to Flash and his ‘friends’. 

“Um, this is a copy of Betty and Ava’s work,” Phi comments.

“No it isn’t!” Flash insists, lying badly.

“Yes it is,” Eden argues. “See, the wheels are in the same place, along with these motors and the wiring. It’s the exact same build.”

“Impossible,” Ms Purl gasps, stepping into the conversation. “I watched them build this, no one from this group looked over at Misses Brant and Kallen’s work. Besides, from the outside I’d say it looks different.”

“Impossible or not, it is what it looks like. And yes he changed the outside but, if you look at the fundamentals, it’s part for part the same,” Ash explains.

“I don’t see it,” Ms Purl argues stubbornly. 

Phi flares up like an eagle whose babies have been threatened. “Are you calling our partner a liar?” they ask lowly, murder glinting in their eyes.

“Our? Partner?” Flash stutters our, confused.

“Yes ours, as in these two are in a romantic relationship with me,” Eden hisses protectively.

It’s all going south when Dee slams the door open and screams, “THE PAPERS ARE ON FIRE!!”

Immediately all three rush out into the lab. The team gathers at the doorway, staring into the lab that appears to be on fire. 

Peter, MJ, and Harley yell in sync, “FRIDAY activate ‘This is fine’ protocol!”

Instantly the lab is covered in layers of fire extinguisher foam. Kylie, who was five seconds ago failing around trying to protect her papers blinks away the foam now covering her eyes. Franklin moves to take a step and falls down, landing in a pile of foam with a soft “oof”. He lays there for a bit before making a snow angel.

“And with that,” Harley says, “we’ll move on to Green.”

It takes a while but they eventually make their way into the elevator, most covered in foam from their falls.

“We’ll get y’all some towels to get that off ya,” Harley reassures as the elevator starts moving. “They always have some on hand.”

“Thank god,” Mr. Harrington sighs out, trying in vain to wipe the foam off of him. 

The elevator doors open and the group spills out into a hallway. They take only a few steps when the vents pop open and Clint jumps out yelling, “CAW CAW MOTHERFUCKERS!”

Everyone swarms him, asking questions and getting in his face. Clint laughs and pushes them away a little. “One at a time, my hearing can’t keep up with all of you,” he jokes. “You, blonde with the cool black headband.”

Betty grins at being called on first. “Why’d you jump out of the vents?”

“To surprise you! Also I like the vents. Next question, you, kid in the red tee.”

Abe’s turn. “Are your hearing aids generic or are they specially made?”

“Pshh, you think I’d make friends with Stark without forcing him to make me special hearing aids? Of course they’re specialized! My hearing’s now better than a normal human’s, but still not as good as Steve or Bucky’s.”

“Or Nat’s for that matter,” Harley quips. Peter laughs and fist bumps him for the burn.

“Please, that woman has the best hearing of the whole team,” Clint complains.

“And that woman will now be dragging your ass back up stairs,” Nat mutters, appearing behind him. Clint yelps and practically flies into the vents. She laughs under her breath and turns to her kids. “Как тур делает мои дети?”

“Хороший мама паук,” the two reply.

“Питер продолжает издеваться,” MJ snitches. Ned, who can understand Russian but can’t speak it, fist bumps MJ in triumph. 

“MJ,” the boyfriends whine.

“You weren’t supposed to say,” Peter complains.

“I’m first in the murder line okay?” Harley insists, focused on the important details.

Nat grins evilly. “Fine, but after you it’s me, Clint, and then Loki. The others can fight it out for the other spots.”

“Deal.”

And with that, Nat leaves the four to deal with people who didn’t know they could speak Russian and are now very concerned as to how and why they got onto the topic of murder and why on Earth Loki has a place in the murder line.

Not giving them any answer or information at all, Harley leads them into a lab, where quiet scientists wearing lab coats are working over black-topped tables. An early thirties man walks over to greet them. “Hi Harley, Ned, Peter, Ms. Jones, and Midtown’s Decathlon team. Welcome to Level Green, Lab 67, also known as 3am Coffee Runs. I’m Dean, the head of this lab.”

“Hey Dean, could you wrangle us up some towels to get the foam off?” Harley asks in a slightly subdued voice. This team is full of shy people and he knows louder people can scare them easily.

“Sure.” One of the workers stops working and grans some towels from a cabinet in the back, handing them to Dean who spreads them to the team. After they’re all dried off, he continues. “We’re a small group, it’s just Jessie, James, Ollie, Mathew, Carro, and myself. Questions?”

“What are you working on right now?” Taylor asks.

“A possible way to regrow human limbs, much like starfish and certain lizards. It’s quite fascinating and we’re hoping to be able to use it on our veterans and people with birth defects as well as others.”

“So this is bio-engineering?” Abe infers.

“Similar but not quite. We’ve already isolated the genes and parts of the DNA that code for proteins for this, the issues we’re running into is how to put it into DNA that doesn’t have those parts and make sure it doesn’t harm or affect the other areas of the DNA. Bruce was supposed to be coming down soon to give us some help actually...” He checks his watch. “Ten minutes late, I hope he’s okay. FRIDAY, can you tell me where Doctor Banner is?”

“Green Tea is currently catching up with Drunk Lesbian,” FRIDAY replies.

“Ah, okay. Reschedule his appointment with us for tomorrow then, I know how much he misses the Asgardians.” Dean refocuses on the group in front of him. “Anything else?”

Someone asks what they do in general and Dean explains that they do a variety of experiments in the chemical and biological fields for a plethora of reasons too complex to explain in the time they have.

“Why is your team nicknamed 3am Coffee Runs?” Henry asks.

“Because we’re the team where everyone’s insomniacs and have made the most coffee runs out of our department.”

“I think we’re up to fifty this week,” Carro speaks up before falling silent.

“What’s your record?” Ava asks.

“Um, I think it was exams week a couple months ago. We had a two hundred cups of coffee clocked in a week,” Ollie calls out.

“You guys should be dead,” Flash exclaims. 

“Thought about it, decided it was too much work,” Jessie whispers. It’s dead silent after that.

James walks him away from the table and leads him into a branch off room, closing the door behind them.

“Alright, we’ll be going now, thank you guys for having us,” Harley transitions, guiding the group back into the hallway. “Good luck!” 

Peter stops by Dean on his way out. “Let Jessie and James off early today, they’ll need some time together at home.” Dean nods in agreement.

Once they’re all in the hallway, Peter notices that something’s off. The air’s too electric, too energized. That means only one thing: Thor’s nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Как тур делает мои дети? = How is the tour doing my children?
> 
> Хороший мама паук. = Good mama spider.
> 
> Питер продолжает издеваться. = Peter keeps getting bullied.


	4. So You Choose Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next, Thor and Loki. Multiple people attempt to commit a well-deserved murder. Sadly, it fails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE NEW TAGS I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THEM I’VE ADDED SOME AND IT AIN’T GOOD STUFF 
> 
> On another note thank you!!!! For all the sweet comments, the feedback I’m getting from this is so positive!! I really love this story and the amount of love I’m getting for something I started accidentally is so overwhelming! I’ve actually cried (happy tears) when I open my inbox because there’s all these lovely comments about what y’all love about this! I’ve had some bad days lately but I see your comments and it’s magically. Hugs to you all, you’re the best!! <3
> 
> POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNINGS: 1) ptsd/trauma, 2) insensitive talking, 3) swearing, 4) panic attack

“Ah, young son of Stark and Lord of Potatoes!” Thor greets. “And Ned and MJ, how wonderful to see you again!”

The four smile at Thor and say their greetings.

“How’ve you been?” Peter asks.

“Fantastic! Thanks to Carol, Asgard is back in its full glory, along with those we lost in both Thanos and Hela’s attacks. Valkyrie has taken very well to being Queen so Loki and I decided to come back and visit.”

“Yes visit, not crash a stupid field trip,” Loki growls, shedding their illusion hiding them from the group. “Honestly brother, I did _not_ sign up for this. I came to see _my_ children, not _random_ children.”

“Hey, we’re not your children!” Harley protests.

“Yeah we’re ya brudders,” Peter finishes in a thick New Yorker accent.

“Never should have let you watch Newsies,” Ned sighs. He’s more of a science fiction kid, and definitely isn’t the theatre nerd MJ and Peter are. 

“But illegal Broadway productions!” Loki, Peter, and Harley argue. MJ just rolls her eyes fondly.

The team behind them, currently being ignored in favor of catching up with each other, is understandably shocked. Two literal gods stand in front of them, talking with three people they used to think of as losers plus one hot Southern man who’s apparently Peter’s boyfriend. Mr. Harrington looks star-struck while Ms Purl looks pissed.

“Excuse me,” she yells, breaking up the happy reunion. “You,” she gestures at Loki, “are a criminal!” She turns to Thor. “Arrest him immediately! There are children,” now she gestures at the students behind her, “at risk!”

“First off Midgardian, I am a female currently,” Loki corrects, glaring down at the teacher. “Second, I have been absolved of all crimes committed as I was under the mental control of a mad man.”

“And third, Loki would never harm a child!” Thor adds helpfully.

“Is that a challenge?!” Loki grins maniacally, her signature long knives in her hands.

“No no no! It’s okay Ms Loki, you don’t need to do that!” Peter reassures.

“Kill the one in the fake designer clothes first,” MJ recommends, cleaning her nails.

Flash, obviously the one she pointed out, gulps. His hands are shaking, eyes darting around. Loki grins and stalks closer. Flash backs up, the people behind him backing up so they don’t get too close. “Yo-you-you can’t kill me,” he argues nervously. “My father will sue you!”

“Ah yes, because I bow to the whims of mere mortals,” Loki sasses, twirling a knife around, the action at odds with the satisfied smirk on her face.

“Now now sister, best not to annoy Stark today,” Thor suggests calmly. 

“Fine.” The knives disappear from her hands and she’s suddenly at her small family’s side. “I’m not leaving mine mektige barn.”

“That’s cool, we’re actually heading up to the team’s gym before lunch,” Harley inputs. He turns to the students behind him. “Right! So this is Thor and Loki, yes they’re both gods, and Loki is currently a female so use the proper pronouns. They’ll be joining us to our next destination, the Avengers gym.” Harley guides them into an empty room. “Any questions you have, ask now to them before we leave. You have ten minutes: go.”

The students explode, lobbing questions at both gods, incomprehensible. 

“Calm down,” Thor commands good-naturely. “One at a time please! Yes, you in the yellow?”

“Loki what gender do you identify as?”

“I am as you Midgardians call genderfluid,” Loki answers icily.

“Thor what happened to your hammer?”

“It was destroyed by our sister Hela, who nearly killed all Asgardians. In turn I had to kill her,” Thor answers matter of factly. Loki glances at him sharply, picking up the lie of cheer in his voice.

“You have a sister?”

“Odin’s firstborn who became too powerful and forced him to lock her away. He never told anyone about her or that his death would unlock her prison, in turn forcing us to do his dirty work for him once he passed,” Loki explains.

“Where you speaking Norwegian just now?”

“Yes,” Loki clips.

“What did you say?”

“I said the name I’ve given these children to refer to them as a group.”

“Which is?”

“Kan jeg ta livet av ham nå?” Loki asks without moving her eyes.

“Nei,” Harley replies. 

“Pity.”

Thor claps his hands. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Flash speaks up. “Harley called you,” he points at Thor, “a pan man and you,” he points at Loki, “an abused person. Why’s that? Why aren’t you normal? You’re gods aren’t you?”

Several things happen at once in that instant.

Lightning crackles all over Thor, his eyes pure electricity. Storm breaker appears in his white knuckled fist.

Loki’s eyes start dilating and Peter can hear her breathing quickening.

MJ has brass knuckles on her fists with no explanation as to where she got them.

And Harley stiffens, nails digging into his palms in anger.

Then it all goes to hell.

Thor growls at Flash, prompting MJ to attack Flash.

Peter rushes to Loki’s side and wraps one of her arms around his shoulders, leading her out of the room. Unseen by the two leaving, Harley holds MJ back, pinning her arms to her sides while both glare at Flash. 

Images race through Loki’s head: silently suffocating in Thor’s shadow, Odin scoffing at everything she ever tried to do, the millions of times he made fun of her. Falling off of Asgard, being tortured in Thanos’ palace, being trapped in the farthest corners of her mind as Thanos controlled her every movement, being forced to be in a male body when she actually was non binary at the time. Stuck in prison, no one visiting her but her mother. Hearing she was dead. Watching Asgard go up in flames. Thanos killing her people. Thanos killing him. The memories stack on to one another, swirling and lashing out at her, reminding her that she’s nothing, weak. All the hatred pointed at her, all her worst moments. All her mistakes. Never being enough, knowing she’ll never be enough to Odin, to her people. That even Thor was giving up on her. She’ll never be enough, she’ll never heal, she’ll never live down her mistakes. She can never rewrite her wrongs, she’ll never make up for her flaws. And the pain, the mental games they played on her. Thanos pining her to the wall with her own knives and starving her out for weeks. The ice pins puncturing her skin. Odin’s tossing her to the side. Asgard’s comments calling her a baby, a weakly. A trickster, a liar. Fingers clawing at her flesh, drawing blood from her veins and taking taking taking. Words laying waste to her mind, stripping her down to nothing. And the blue, the ice cold of her body, the blood that is her true eyes. The ancestral markings on her arms and legs, the feared horns that sprout from her forehead. Accusations fly like arrows, hitting her and bringing her down. Disgust clouding every expression that sees her. Yells, calling her a monster. Limbs pinning her down and words choking her. Because she’s nothingnothingnothing. A monster. Weak. A liar. A trickster. Unworthy. Prisoner. Punching bag. Enemy. Nothing.

She screams, clawing at her hair and arms, raking her nails across her skin and drawing blood. It’s all too much, it’s too much, it’s too much. They’re hurting her, stripping her flesh from her bones. Her tongue is cut, her lips sewn together. Her tears are blood and yet they do nothing. They do nothing as she tries to scream, pain exploding in her mouth and billowing out through her body, echoes of everything she’s been through pulsing pain back up to her head.

Slowly, a voice filters through. “They can’t hurt you now,” it whispers. “They’re dead and gone, they can’t hurt you anymore. They’re not here, you’re free. You’re free Loki.”

Free.

She’s... free?

Free from Odin?

Free from Thanos?

Free?

The voice sounds like it’s crying. “You’re free Loki, free from them all. They’re all dead, they aren’t here. You’re safe.”

“Nei du lyver, jeg kan ikke være fri. Slutt å lyve!” Loki mutters. 

“Jeg lyver aldri for deg.” There’s raw truth in the voice, a certainty that resonates with Loki. “You’re free, I swear it.” It pauses, then says, “Jeg sverger ved sjelen min.”

Loki releases a shaky breath, images flickering, pain lessening. 

“That’s it Loki, you’re not trapped there anymore, you’re free. They're dead, you’re alive, you’re free.”

As the voice continues, her breathing slows down to a normal pace. Her memories fade back into her mind, the pain dulling until it’s gone. She recognizes the voice, a young male. Peter.

“Can you name five things you hear?” Peter asks.

“Your voice,” she replies quietly, “my voice... my breathing, the traffic outside... your breathing.”

“Very good. Four things you see?” 

She cracks open her eyes. 

“You... the w-wall... my hair... um, the floor?”

“Prefect. Three things you can feel?”

“Li-liquid?” She touches her face, dry salt tracks. “Tears, my pants, and, uh, the floor?”

“You’re doing great. Two things you can taste?”

“Salt and... pastry...”

“Last one, you’re doing so well. One thing you can smell?”

Loki takes a deep breath in. “Ashes.” She looks at Peter questioningly. “You were in a fire recently.”

“About an hour ago, yeah.” He smiles reassuringly. “You feeling better?”

“Much.”

They sit on the ground, Loki still calming down as Peter rubs circles on his hands, waiting for FRIDAY to alert them that it’s safe to go back.

Meanwhile, in the room...

“Thor you need to calm down,” Harley advices as he struggles to keep MJ from punching Flash. 

Said thunder god is sparking all over, pure electricity crackling in his enraged eyes. “You,” he intones, thunder sounding in his voices as he pins Flash to the spot with his glare. “What right do you claim, to talk to my sister in such a way?”

Flash is trembling too hard to speak, eyes practically bugging out of him head.

“I SAID,” Thor yells, “WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TALK OF MY SISTER AS YOU DID?!” Thunder booms outside, a sudden storm brewing above the Tower.

“Thor!” Harley screams, releasing MJ and placing himself in between the raging god and the teens. “That’s enough! He is a CHILD Thor, an ignorant bigoted kid but a still a kid.”

The rage dims in Thor’s eyes and the storm ends, the electricity fading away.

“I would love to let you kill him too, hell I’d love to kill him too, but there are all the legal stuff and honestly it’s a waste of time. Plus, he is a kid and he probably just has been taught badly. And, Peter wouldn’t want us to kill him.”

“Very well Harley, but if he says anything else about Loki he may not be so lucky,” Thor warns.

“Reasonable. But you should know, you’re fifth in the line.”

“Who’s in front of me?”

“Me, then Nat and Clint, then Loki. We reserved a spot of her knowing she’d want it.”

“Ah. They are worthy and I am happy with my place.”

“Great. Now,” he turns to Flash who has a bloodied nose, “as for you-”

“Excuse me but he needs a doctor!” Ms Purl insists, putting a tissue on the bleeding area.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Harley argues cooly. “It doesn’t look broken, like it should be.”

“The NDA said I couldn’t break any bones,” MJ answers. “Though technically the nose is cartilage so I could have broken it.” Her hands are clean of blood, the brass knuckles nowhere to be seen. Ned smiles innocently next to her, volumes of satisfaction glowing in his eyes.

“Regardless, there are certain things that must be expressed,” Harley continues. “First off, I obviously forgot to disclose to y’all the LGBTQIA+ rule we have here. Now, if you had actually read the NDAs you would but I’ll repeat them as a... _refresher._ Stark Industries and all Avenger affiliations are safe places for all people of the LGBT+ community. That means all gender expressions and preferred pronouns are respected as anyone else’s, all sexualities are respected, and all relationships are respected as such. If a person tells you to call them by he/him pronouns you will call them by those pronouns. If a person acknowledges that they are bi, you will accept that and move on. If a person who uses male pronouns is wearing a dress or skirt, you still use male pronouns. Any disrespect to these rules will result in your immediate expulsion from the Tower and forever ban from all SI and Avenger buildings and jobs.”

The team murmur their agreements.

“Secondly, all Stark Industries and all Avengers affiliations are safe places in general. Any triggers, abuse, illnesses, harmful practices, suicidal events and activities, and/or mental illnesses a person has are respected and will be worked with to create a safe environment for them to work and live in. Many workers here have experienced at least one or more of those listed so it is greatly important that you conduct yourself in a respectful and non-insensitive manner. Am I clear?” His sharp tone and fighting stance leave no room to disagree. “Good. FRIDAY, please alert Loki and Peter that they can came in now.”

There’s no response but after a minute Peter and Loki emerge from the hallway. Loki looks the same as when she was in the room, flawless in very way, but MJ, Ned, Harley, and Thor know that she’s using an illusion. 

Peter notes Flash’s nose and shoots a look at MJ, who smirks at Peter before adopting a neutral face. Ned nods at Peter, telling him everything’s been taken care of. Peter hugs his boyfriend, tucking his face into Harley’s shoulder and breathing in his motor oil smell. They stay like that as Thor and Loki talk quietly among themselves, Thor alerting Loki that she’s fourth on the kill list and he’s fifth. She grins at that.

“You okay sweetheart?” Harley asks quietly.

“I’m fine, it just reminded me of my panic attack this morning,” Peter whispers back.

“Ned and MJ help you?”

Peter hums a yes.

“Need anything?”

“I’ll be fine until lunch.”

“Alright darlin’. Don’t forget, Lab 68 wanted you to check something for them.”

“I won’t forget.”

When Thor and Loki finish their talk, Harley smiles apolitically and kisses Peter!s forehead before pulling away. “Sorry sweetheart.”

“‘S okay,” Peter mumbles before kissing Harley’s lips. “Go do your tour guide thing.”

Harley laughs and takes center stage. “Game time folks, next up is the Avengers Gym. To the elevators!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Norwegian:  
> “mine mektige barn” = my powerful children  
> “Kan jeg ta livet av ham nå?” = Please can I kill him now?  
> “ Nei.” = No.  
> “ Nei du lyver, jeg kan ikke være fri. Slutt å lyve!” = No you lie, I can not be free. Stop lying!  
> “ Jeg lyver aldri for deg.” = I never lie to you.  
> “ Jeg sverger ved sjelen min.” = I swear by my soul.  
> 


	5. The Gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally get to the gym. Peter’s hot and a lot of people are ~shook~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry this is kinda short and late. I’ve had a horrible week and am hoping it didn’t affect the quality of this too much...

The elevator doors open and the group spills out into a glassed off section of the gym. Out on the mats, Steve and Bucky are going at it, punches flying and blurred. Clint is off to the side, shooting at moving targets while Nat does acrobatics on a raised beam about fifteen feet off the ground. 

“Talk about #blessed,” someone in the group mutters. 

There are murmurs of agreement among the students as their jaws stay firmly planted on the ground in awe.

Ned is practically glowing, even though he’s seen this already. MJ has her head buried in a book, something about Italian poisons in the medieval and renaissance eras. Peter is pressed against his boyfriend’s chest, watching his class as Harley rests his head on top of the fluffy brown hair and curls his arms around Peter’s waist. Thor moves out into the actual gym, Loki nowhere in sight but Peter can sense that she’s next to her brother.

Out of the corner of Harley’s eye he can see Ms Purl frowning at his draping himself on his boyfriend. He just shifts to be more comfortably wrapped around the embodiment of adorable geek boy and sinfully hot pure heroic male that is his boyfriend. If a LGBT-phobic lady hates it, then by all means, hate away! Not gonna stop him from loving Peter. 

“Cap!” Harley yells out after the two super soldiers are finished sparring. “We got visitors!”

Steve turns and looks at the group, wincing for a split second before putting on his Captain America smile. “C’mon in everyone,” he calls out.

The team surges through the door, Mr. Harrington staying in the middle as Ms Purl follows with a frown. Ned and MJ meander after her, the two boyfriends unraveling themselves from each other before following, holding hands.

Peter can hear Bucky grumble to Steve under their breathes as the group approaches. “I can’t wait to be asked about HYDRA, this is sooooo fun,” Bucky says sarcastically.

“We’ll hand them off to Nat and Clint as soon as possible okay?” Steve whispers back. “I don’t like this anymore than you.”

Bucky snorts. “What about patriotism?” he asks mockingly. 

“The government sucks and we both know it.” The group finally makes it to the mats and stand in front of the two super soldiers. “Welcome everyone!” Steve greets. “As you no doubt know, I’m Steve Rodgers, that’s-”

“-I’m Bucky Barnes.”

“And today we’re going to show you how we train-” 

“-until we take you away to teach basic self-defense,” Nat interrupts from behind the group. They spin around and stare in awe at the Russian assassin who’s grinning satisfactorily at them. “Привет MJ, Ned, беби паук, и картошка ребёнка.”

“мама паук,” all four chime in, smiling at their pseudo aunt/mom figure. 

“Long time no see,” Ned quips.

Steve sighs. “Nat, did you crash their field trip before now?”

“Of course not. Clint did.”

“Did not!” Clint yells from across the gym.

“Did too!”

“FRIDAY?” Bucky asks, looking up at the ceiling.

“I can confirm that Katniss did crash Spiderbaby’s field trip,” the Irish AI’s voice states. “Scary Woman was simply retrieving him.”

”Scary Woman?” Flash repeats. “Katniss? What the hell?”

“Language!” Nat, Clint, Peter, MJ, Ned, Harley, Thor, Loki, and Bucky reflectively say.

“Guys,” Steve whines, “please stop.”

“Never,” Bucky promises.

“Anyways, Katniss is Stark’s name for Clint and Scary Woman is mine,” Nat explains. “FRIDAY, can you read off everyone’s nicknames in here?”

“Of course Scary Woman. Spiderbaby, Potato Gun, Ted, Star Spangled Shield, Metal Arm, Scary Woman, Mini Queen, Katniss, Point Break, and Reindeer Games are in here.”

“And everyone’s going to explain their nickname!” Clint adds, suddenly next to Nat. “I’ll go first. Stark came with it during Loki and New York, after the badass-”

“Language!”

“-character from Hunger Games. Nat?”

“I scare everyone.” Bucky snorts. “Okay the kids weren’t but everyone else is. Bucky.”

“I have a metal arm. Stevie.”

“It’s from the first time I suited up for Loki and New York. It was ridiculous.”

“I loved those tights,” Bucky comments.

There’re giggles at that.

“Shut up,” Steve grouches good naturally. “Harley?”

“First time I met Tony I threatened to shoot him with a potato gun I made.” Harley smiles at the memory. “MJ.”

“He claimed I was a teen clone of Pepper. Ned.”

“Mr. Stark never says my name right, it’s a running joke,” Ned laughs out. “Loki?”

“Norns I hate Stark’s name for me,” Loki groans. “It was at the battle of New York. Thor.”

“The Man of Iron came up with at our first meeting,” the god booms proudly. “Now that we are done let us battle!”

“Um, how about we show them the gym first?” Peter suggests. 

“Exactly Peter! Right here we have the mats for sparring,” Steve says, guiding the students around the gym. “There’s the rope area for agility, gymnastic equipment for Nat, Clint, and Spider-Man, the weights for both humans and enhanced, weapons rack, and the knives and bow shooting range. The guns’ shooting ranges are down the hallway over there. And of course, above all of us are the flying area, for our flyers to practice. Any questions?” Everyone raises their hand except for the ones who live/work at the tower. “Oh um, you, in the green?”

“Can we try the weights?!”

“Uh...”

“Sure,” Bucky answers, smirking. “C’mon kids.” He leads them to the weights, gesturing at them to give it a try. There’s two piles, one under HUMAN and the other under ENHANCED.

The kid who asked the question picks one up from the pile labeled HUMAN. “Not so bad,” he says as he lifts it with a single hand.

“Try the enhanced one,” Bucky suggests.

So the kid does. Grunting from the effort, he’s able to pick it up with both hands and hold it about a foot off the ground for a couple seconds before suddenly giving out and dropping it. Panting, he leans with his hands on his knees, beads of sweat trickling down his face.

“That first one was ten pounds. The enhanced one was about fifty. Both are the lowest weight for their pile.” Bucky’s full on grinning now. “Who’s next?”

In the end everyone tries it. Flash brags that it’ll be a “piece of cake for a strong man like [him]”. He’s only able to hold it up like the first kid did for three seconds before he drops it and is clutching at his chest, out of breath. Ned doesn’t do much better and Peter pretends to do the same as Ned. In reality, he can lift it with one hand over his head without feeling it but that’s Spider-Man, not puny nerd Peter Parker. That is, until...

“Peter don’t hold back!” Thor instructs. “I’ve seen you lift more than that!”

Peter stutters for a bit before lifting it to his neck and then back with one hand, slinking to the back to avoid questions. MJ rolls her eyes and slides her book into her bag before handing the bag to Harley and picking up the fifty. With one hand, she pulls it up to her chin and back down, not even breaking a sweat. She then puts it back in the pile and takes her bag back. 

Her teammates are shocked but her friends aren’t surprised in the slightest. She’s been putting in hours to bring up her strength and graduated to benching eighty pounds two weeks ago. 

“Yeah yeah, thanks for showing off MJ,” Harley complains. “Nat and Clint are now going to show you some basic self-defense.”

“Sure.” The duo guide everyone to the mats and Nat demonstrates what to do, using Clint as the attacker. “Got it?”

“Could you do it in real time please?” Betty asks.

“Yeah.” Fast as lightning, Clint’s down for the count on the mat and Nat smirks down at her best friend. “Alright, partner up and practice!”

“But don’t hurt each other!” Mr. Harrington calls out after them. Ms Purl frowns as Nat shows them how to break someone’s foot with the heel of their foot.

They practice for a bit, Clint showing them another technique then letting them practice before Nat shows another technique. It goes back and forth for a while before Nat claps for their attention.

“Good work everyone. Now, anyone who wants to try their skills against an Avenger step on up and show me what you got.” 

Flash shoves his way to the front, puffing out his chest like he’s trying to impress someone. “I’ll go,” he challenges. “I’ll even go easy you.”

“Five bucks says three seconds,” Peter whispers to Loki, who’s moved next to him.

“Ten says two,” she replies.

Nat cooly grins at Flash as Steve counts down from ten. Clint is grinning at her from behind the kid, so excited to see him taken down.

Once Steve says go, she attacks, pinning Flash down to the mat in a blink of the eye. Her knee is digging into his back as he frantically taps out.

Smoothly getting off him, she looks to Clint who’s cheering wildly for her. Flash stumbles off the mat as Steve declares that she took him down in a second, the newest record in the gym. 

Peter passes Loki five bucks. “You were the closest so you get half,” he mutters.

“Ms Romanoff I have to ask that you be more gentle!” Ms Purl insists, outraged.

“Oh please I barely hurt him,” Nat brushes out. “You should see me actually sparring with someone. MJ?”

“We’re scheduled later today,” she replies.

“Peter!” Bucky calls out.

“Wha?”

“Spar with Nat, MJ turned her down because she’s scheduled for later today.”

Trying to come up with an excuse, Peter is stuck sputtering nonsense.

“C’mon Peter, show ’em whatcha got,” Clint encourages.

MJ steals his backpack and shoves Peter forward. “Go on loser, spar.”

Peter sighs and walks towards the mat. When he reaches it, Harley yells out, “Take off ya shirt babe!”

Blushing heavily, he does as his boyfriend asked, tossing it over to Harley as his team gasp.

“Holy hell, he has a six pack,” someone whispers.

“Isn’t he gorgeous?” Harley asks rhetorically, smirking at the teens suddenly very interested in his boy.

“Okay. Peter, don’t hold back, and both of you no broken bones like last time,” Steve says.

“Broken _bones_?!” Flash yelps.

“Ready?” Steve continues. “Begin!”

Nat launches herself at Peter as he dodges, beginning their dance of punches and blocks, of fluid movements and flying feet. Neither one is able to gain an advantage, but they do land some hits. Mostly they just move around each other, flipping and spinning, a whirl of hair and a flurry of punches and kicks. After five minutes, Steve stops them.

“I know you guys can go on forever, but they do need to go to lunch so we’ll end it there.” Clint tosses a towel at each of the sweating fighters as Steve turns to the group. “Peter’s being training alongside MJ and Harley for about a year now, so they’re all basic professionals. You can be just as good as them if you put in time and effort as well. Now you should get going to lunch.”

Harley kisses his boyfriend and then hands him his shirt, whispering in his ear, “Nice abs darlin’, come here often?”

Peter giggles and hugs Harley close before letting him out to usher his teammates into the elevator. It’s going well until Flash finds his way over to the spider boi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Russian:  
> “Привет MJ, Ned, беби паук, и картошка ребёнка.“ = Hello MJ, Ned, baby spider, and potato child.  
> “мама паук.” = Mama spider.


	6. Protocol Empty the Trash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All I see is death and dead men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!Language and trigger warning!!  
> I don’t mean hell or damn, I mean there’s some serious language that’s thrown around and I want to let everyone reading know that it’s in here and to be careful. Things like the f-word and the f-word against the LGBT+ community, along with dead names and incorrect pronouns, plus degrading women and making fun of mental illness come out and I swear to the gods if I didn’t have a good plot line for once I would go into the fic and kill the sayer myself. I’m so sorry, but it is relevant for the chapter. I’m very sorry again.
> 
> (I low key almost threw up a bunch when I wrote this. It ain’t an easy read in the beginning, please be safe kiddos)
> 
> Last thing: I’m really sorry it took so long for me to update!! I’ll explain in the end note.

A hand latches on to Peter’s shoulder, digging it’s short, manicured nails into his clothed flesh. It pulls him around, forcing him to turn and face a livid Eugene Thomson. 

“What the hell Parker?” Flash yells, his loud voice like an explosion to Peter’s senses, especially so close to his ears. “First you somehow have a boyfriend, then lab people somehow know you, then the fucking Avengers recognize you, then you fucking fight Black Widow!? Sure she’s a girl, but you’re weaker than the weakest girl-” Peter snaps.

“Weakest girl? Flash, Nat is a woman. A wo-man. Women, if you didn’t know, are some of the strongest, scariest, fiercest people on Earth. They’ve gone through hell ever since humans decided to oppress them for no reason and into the present. They go through so much oppression and insulting abuse every single day by strangers, friends, and family; more than you could ever begin to understand. If you’re going to insult me at least pick on me, not the entire half of the human race who honestly are so much stronger than me in so many different ways.” Peter’s face is stone-cold, dead serious. Voice as sharp as glass and just as dangerous. He’s never pulled this in school before and Flash takes a half step back, shivering as if the room had suddenly become a freezer.

He contemplates letting the matter drop, walking away and leaving the nerd alone. But then he remembers how stupid and stuck up she is and how he needs to take her down a couple pegs. And he glances around the room quickly, seeing the Avengers leaving via elevator. “Sure, go and defend your own sex like you’re not defending yourself Rachel.”

Peter staggers back as if Flash stabbed him. Not that name, anything but that...

Flash grins. “You may claim to be a boy, but you’ll always be a girl,” he presses, gaining momentum. “You were such a pretty girl too, I might’ve asked you out before you got all those nasty thoughts in your head. A boy, really? And not just a boy, but a faggoted boy too.”

MJ, Harley, and Ned turn as one from their discussion off to the side and search the group for Peter. When they see him alone and frighten with Flash smiling like the devil, they immediately rush to his aide.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ned hisses, harsher than he’s ever said anything in his life and standing in front of Peter. MJ has her weapons drawn, a knife and electric shocker. Harley holds Peter, whispering a breathing pattern to calm the young spider’s elevated breathes.

“What does it look like I’m doing retard? I’m educating the little tranny about her misguided thoughts,” Flash answers, sneering at Peter from between Ned and MJ.

“How can you speak like that?!” Harley bellows quietly, hugging Peter as close to his chest as humanly possible. “Peter hasn’t done anything to you!”

“She’s a mistake,” Flash argues. “An abomination! Just like you, dating girl calling herself a boy. You’re just a disgusting fag.”

“How _dare_ you?” Loki whisper-yells, appearing in front of the small group of teens, her Asgardian armor appearing on her, complete with a staff similar to the Tesseract’s and her golden horned helmet. “You dare to mistreat Peter simply because of his biological sex and then toss insults at him for going to through the great process of transitioning to his correct gender?! You dare,” green magic swirls around her, “to claim that for Harley and Peter to love another man is immoral when the disgusting love you perceive to be the correct version is objectifying women into things rather than the beautiful majesty that is a woman?” Her lips curl dangerously, barring teeth to rival vampires. “You tread a path, Midgardian, that will only see you dead.”

Reading a room was never in Flash’s dangerously small skill set, allowing Flash to only push himself into a corner. “How dare I? _How_ dare _I?_ Buddy, you’re one to talk. ‘Genderfluid’? Ha, what a joke! You’re just confused dude, you’re either a man or a girl, there’s no ‘I’m one now and the other later’ business you seem to think fits yourself. C’mon, what’s in your pants?”

“Why does it matter so much to you Eugene?” MJ snarls, clutching her weapons in a white knuckled grip. 

“Oh please Michelle, you’re one to talk,” Flash fires back, not knowing when to stop. “Bisexual, really? Just admit it, no one would date you with your negativity and obsession with death so you claimed to like both sexes to soothe your lonely ass and try to find someone, anyone, to date. But we all know the truth: no one likes you. No one ever will. You’ll forever be alone because who would ever want you? Especially with your fake ‘mental illnesses’. If you’re depressed then trying smiling more, stupid. If you’re anxious then stop worrying! People would like you more if you stopped trying be special.”

Ned, utterly fed up, steps forward to defend his friend. “MJ is perfectly fine just the way she is. If people don’t like her the way she is, then they don’t deserve her, plain and simple. So what if she likes both guys and girls, she doesn’t have any control over her sexuality! She isn’t making it up, she is who she is and likes who she likes! And mental illness is real!-”

Flash sneers, cutting Ned off. “Sure Lard Boy, tell me that after you start working out and start acting like a real boy, not some weird kid who plays with children’s toys way past the proper age.” Ned digs his fingers into his palms. “Oh, is poor baby Ned gonna cry now?” Flash cracks up, the only one making a sound besides Peter’s heavy breathing and Harley’s whispered breathing pattern. “Get over yourself Fatso, you’re not special. You’re too old to go running for your mom or to hide behind your so-called friends. Stop being such a baby! Just because you didn’t dust doesn’t mean you have to be a bit-”

**SNAP**

Everyone stares in shock as Peter Parker, the skinny nerd, the pacifist and most peaceful kid at the school, punches his long time bully hard enough to send him into the opposite wall.

“Don’t you dare,” he growls, deafeningly loud in the graveyard silence of the gym, “insult my friends.”

Flash squeaks, hunched against the wall and clutching his chest where Peter punched him. 

“Loki is genderfluid. That’s that and you have no right to ask what gender she was born with as that doesn’t matter. MJ is bisexual. That means she likes both guys and girls and there’s abso-fucking-lutely nothing wrong with loving more than one gender. Ned is perfect just the way he is, who cares if he plays with LEGOs and is bigger than you? LEGOs are fun and plenty of adults play with them as well, and for crying out loud it’s 2018, size doesn’t matter! Nothing you said about them keeps them from being amazing people who are happy how they are and they certainly don’t have to conform to your bigoted and twisted views of society!” Peter yells, trembling slightly but standing strong.

“And yeah, I was born in a girl’s body, but I am a boy. Always have been, always will be. I got the binders, the testosterone, and eventually, the surgeries. I’m a _male,_ Flash. I use male pronouns, have a male name, have a male body. And I never stopped liking boys, that’s means I’m gay, more technically known as homosexual. So what? Why does it bother you that I like guys? I have three wonderful friends who don’t care and never changed their attitude about me when I came out to them, I have an amazing aunt who works so hard to make sure I have everything I need to be myself and threatens every boyfriend I’ve had to treat me right, and I have the best boyfriend ever who cares about me so damn much!” Tears streak his face, his love for everyone lacing every syllable he voices. “These people have never asked me to be anything I’m not, have never disrespected my pronouns, never brought up my dead name, have never insulted me or bullied me for years because of something I didn’t have a choice in. So I don’t know why you insist on picking on me at every turn and attacking the people I love when we’ve done absolutely nothing to you.”

“I think you broke my rib,” Flash chokes out. “How the hell?”

“Guess I’m not the weak Peter Parker you always thought I was,” Peter snaps. “FRIDAY, activate protocols Empty the Trash and ‘Tis but a Scratch.” To Flash he says, “We’re done here.” With that, he turns away and walks out of the gym into the gun range hallway.

Everyone’s dead silent until the elevator bings and Happy plus two security guards walk out. “Where’s the trash?” Happy asks, his tone bordering on maliciously excited.

“The pile against the wall,” MJ explains cooly, weapons still out. 

“Alright people, get the trash to the med bay. As soon as it’s clear to leave, show it the proper treatment we show all our trash.” The guards smirk and heave Flash up and into the elevator.

“Um, excuse me?” Ms Purl approaches Happy uncertainly. “Y-you can’t take a student, he’ll need a chaperone with him.”

“Wonderful, you just volunteered yourself,” Happy replies, leaving the teacher to get into the waiting elevator. Once it’s heading down, he addresses the room. “Anyone want to tell me why I was called?”

Harley is about to explain when FRIDAY says, “Protocol Raining Spider activated.” Without a word Harley rushes out of the gym at the speed of light, following Peter’s path out of the room.

MJ steps over to Happy with Ned to explain. “Multiple violations of LGBTQIA+ rules, along with violations of the Safe Place rules and Bullying policies. I can brief you later, but needless to say Protocol Defend can and will be used in the inevitable lawsuit along with the breaking the NDA agreement. Alert Pepper and the labs, I’ll handle the students here. Loki?”

Loki joins their huddle with Happy. “Yes?”

“I need you to update the Avengers and add to the kill line. FRIDAY, alert Harley and Peter when they’re ready to go to the living area and eat lunch up there, if they want to go to Lab 68 after that it’s fine, just make sure they meet up with us by 2 o’clock. Ned, I need to schedule to be edited to have an all Avengers meeting with the tour at 2:15. I also want to see what labs we’ll visit and possibly edit those, if you could do a demonstration with Bruce that’d be good too. Everyone understand what’s going on?”

They agree. 

“Good.” She pulls out her earpiece she usually only wears when working and puts it on. “Call me if you need anything. Break!”

Happy leaves briskly via elevator, Loki simply disappearing via spell.

Ned and MJ turn to their team and Mr. Harrington. “Effective right now, I’m in charge of this tour. Any questions you have voice now before we’re late to lunch.”

“What happened to Flash?”

“He violated multiple rules and policies we have here at SI so Peter activated the proper protocol. You won’t be seeing him in here again.”

“What’s Protocol Empty the Trash?”

“That’s the protocol for removing trashy people.”

“What about Protocol ’Tis but a Scratch?”

“That’s the one for injured people.”

“How did Peter punch Flash across the room? And abs?”

“Peter’s been training like any intern or employee of SI and has been hiding it to keep Flash from bullying others who might not be able to take it.”

“What’s Protocol Raining Spider?”

“Classified.”

“Where’d Peter run off to?”

“He’ll be fine Mr. Harrington.”

“Where’d Harley run off to?”

“He was called to by Protocol Raining Spider. Anything else? No? Good. Get in the elevator.”

Meanwhile, in the gun range hallway...

“Breath with my sweetheart,” Harley soothes, running his fingers through his sobbing boyfriend’s curly hair. “That’s it, match your breathes with mine. There’re we go, that’s it, you’re doing so well darlin’.”

Peter’s shakily breath evens out soon, his sobs growing fainter as Harley combs through his hair. Eventually, Peter stops crying and sits up, rubbing at the wet tracks left on his face. Harley smiles warmly at him, bringing his hands in Peter’s hair down to cup Peter’s face, gently kissing every inch of wet, salty skin. 

“I love you,” he whispers, lips barely touching lips. 

“I love you too,” Peter croaks out, voice rough from the yelling and then crying. They kiss, sweet and warm, full of love and acceptance.

Once they part, Peter leans on Harley, letting his boyfriend to envelop him in his warm arms and hold him close. They stay like that for a long time, calm in the presence of their loved one. 

Peter’s stomach growls, causing them to laugh before untangling themselves and standing up. “C’mon dear, let’s get you some lunch,” Harley says.

“Potato Gun, mini Queen would like to inform you and Spiderbaby that you are to eat lunch in the living area and then are free to go to Lab 68 as long as you are back with the group by 2 o’clock,” FRIDAY says.

“Great, we can have leftovers!” Peter cheers.

“Yessssss. Let’s go darlin’!”

The two stroll to the private elevator in the hallway, each floor having at least two elevator banks. They go into it and head up to the Avengers living areas, specifically the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is, again, a little short!! I had a lot of trouble with this one, it’s hard to type out things you really want to argue against but can’t because it’s not that part yet and then BOOM it’s that part let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOO and you end up spending about three hours making sure it’s perfect and also a semi-acceptable length.
> 
> Anyways, the reason I’ve been taking longer is that I’m having some quarantine related issues, mainly not crying every night and dealing with school. It’s really hard on me and I’m trying to keep it together. So from now on, the update schedule is this: every two-four days. I may break this, please shoot me a gentle reminder if that is the case. Thank you, and stay safe kiddos!


	7. Lab 68

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hell if I know.
> 
> [REMEMBER TO DELETE BEFORE POSTING]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry this is late!!

The couple raid the fridge in the kitchen, finding some pizza and leftover Thai food. They sit down to their re-heated food, Wanda and Vision joining them after a bit.

“Why’re you two up here?” Wanda asks as Vision reheats her some spaghetti.

“Oh you know, kicked an asshole out of the Tower and then had a break down over hearing my dead name,” Peter replies nonchalantly, halfway through the pizza box.

“Where is he?” she spits out defensively.

“Trash med bay,” Harley answers happily.

“Vis?”

“Yes dear?” the robot-human answers, turning to their fiancée.

“We’re going to walk down and visit someone.”

“Wonderful.” With that, two murder bent super humans begin to leave to possibly murder Flash.

“Nope, you’re only six and seventh in line,” Harley calls out, stopping them. “You have a lot more people who want to kill him too.”

Wanda groans but allows Vision, well versed in understanding the murder line, to guide her back to her seat before handing her the warmed up spaghetti. 

They all sit around and chat for a bit, until Peter’s finished off the whole pizza box and Harley’s done with his Thai. With a satisfied sigh, Peter stands up and stretches. “Alright, we’re heading down to the labs. Great to talk with you guys, haven’t seen you around lately.”

“Nice talking with you two,” Vision says.

“We’ll see you later!” Wanda calls after them, the two boy geniuses waving their good byes at the couple as the elevator closes.

“Lab 68 please Fri,” Harley requests at the ceiling before leaning back against the bar. “So,” he starts, gazing over at his boyfriend, “what’re the Australians of Outer Space up to this time?”

Peter giggles. “Project R? A Roomba that plays music, goes to a human it trusts when it gets scared, and beeps happily when it gently stabs someone, among other things.”

“Let me guess, they saw the Sargent Stabby tumblr post and decided to bring it to life.”

“It’s so beautiful though,” Peter whispers in his ‘adorable animals and humans’ voice. “It plays any music you want while asking you to pet it and is happy when it stabs you.”

Harley laughs and gathers his too cute boyfriend into his arms, burying his face into the soft curls. “God I love you so much.”

“Gods, you know two of them. And I love you too.” Then the elevator bings and they separate, the shorter one leading the way out of the metal travel container. 

A young person greets them when they step out. “Hey gays! Today’s a they/them day, so name’s Pire. And Sir Stab o’Way has finally passed all of Blue’s testing and will soon be sent to Silver to help fellow labs, so we thought you’d like to do a quick check up on them before they officially join us as part of the team!”

The others behind them, Allen, Max, Saph, Xeri, and Carrie are partying. Xeri is having a deep conversation with Sir Stab o’Way about emotions, Sir Stab communicating via violently switching between songs, while Saph and Carrie fail to pop open the champagne bottles and Allen and Max hang up balloons. Peter jumps in at helps the disasters open champagne while Harley and Pire strike up a friendly debate about humanity’s downfall.

Meanwhile, in the tour cafeteria...

“Alright, lunch is free, go eat. And no bothering me or Ned,” MJ instructs before going up to the Subway and ordering a sandwich. Ned follows her lead and gets some Chinese food, with chopsticks because chopsticks are awesome. When the two get their food they retreat to a table in the back, Ned pulling out his new laptop from his backpack and immediately getting to work on the schedule. 

He spins it to face MJ when he has it pulled up. “Looks like we’re stopping in at Purple today, along with Blue and Silver, and then a meeting with Pepper to finish it up.”

“Okay, message Bruce to be in Blue when we get there, and decrease the amount of time in each lab by about ten minutes so we have planographic time for the Avengers after Pepper.”

“Got it,” Ned says, spinning his laptop back around and doing as MJ ordered. “Anything else?”

“Nope, we should be all good. Thanks Ned.”

“No problem MJ.”

They tuck into their food, trading conspiracy theories about different shows. That is, they were until a slightly tipsy space lesbian burst into the room.

“Hey, heard the Teens were here,” Valkyrie calls out. She pauses, confused. “Where’s the gays?”

“Val, Peter and Harley’s are upstairs,” MJ informs.

“Oh.” She frowns, then shrugs and plops herself down next to Ned. “Well I haven’t seen you guys in forever, I’ll find them later. What’s new?”

“Finally got that new laptop, and it was totally worth it!”

“White finally got a cat and her name is Lou, short for Loophole.”

“Cool. Any news from Shuri?”

“She’s still trying to figure out how to ask the mystery girl out,” MJ sighs out.

“But she and her team are close to creating something similar to a Kybercrystal,” Ned adds.

“Any other tea on the team?”

“Uh, I think Clint is hosting a Mario Cart Tournament this weekend but other than that nothing much has happened,” Ned supplies.

“I heard there may be a bankruptcy at Oscorps,” MJ adds, “and Sam’s planning a prank war against Bucky again.”

“Hmm, pretty slow down here.”

“Yep.”

“What about you?” Ned asks excitedly, finishing his Chinese.

“Eh, Asgard’s doing well, lots of booze, though I am starting to taper off a bit, mostly because Korg and Heimdall insist I should. Something about how the one in charge while the King is off world should be sober or something. I don’t know, personally I think Heimdall should be the one in charge while Loki’s away, not me, but he’s stuck watching over the nine worlds so I guess I’m the only one he trusts to not fu- I mean mess up Asgard. Gods, why must there be kids around?! I like swearing...”

The two teens chuckle at Valkyrie and Ned is about to say something when-

“You’re in charge of Asgard while Thor’s away?” Sally asks excitedly.

Valkyrie cackles. “Hel- ahem, uh no. I’m in charge when Loki’s away.”

“Why when Loki’s away?” Betty inquires.

“’Cause he’s the King of Asgard, duh.” Everyone gathered, minus the three, gasps. Val looks around, confused. “What, you thought _Thor_ was King?” The students nod in sync, jaws slack and eyes wide as if they had been run over by a truck.

“How’d that happen?” Abe speaks the question on all of their minds.

“So you know about Thanos right? Collected the Infinity Stones, killed most of the Asgardians when he attacked our refugee ship, dusted half of the universe? Well, after that Thor and the Asgardians who managed to survive Thanos twice moved to a little town up in Norway which they, well technically I was with them so it’s more of a we, named New Asgard. Thor, naturally, after losing everyone he’s ever known and loved, became depressed so I became the unofficial Queen. Didn’t really like it but whatever, kept me busy. Then Bruce and Rocket came to collect Thor and attempt time travel, they did it, got all the stones, brought all the dusted back along with the people Thanos killed before he got the stones, along with the people who had to die to get the soul stone. Oh, and I think they brought back Vision’s body, plus Bruce brought back Asgard which was awesome because I really hated Norway. Nice country but I prefer Asgard. Then Tony snapped Thanos and his gang away, the weird doctor sorcerer guy reversed the damage to Tony with his stone, and then we figured out who and what came back.” She takes a swig of MJ’s water bottle and makes a face. “Not vodka?”

“Water. It’s good for you.”

“Strange. Anyway, Thor had relinquished his claim to the throne a while ago, I think sometime before the Queen died, so Loki was the next candidate. He’d been ruling Asgard for a year or two after Odin, the old bastard, finally kicked the bucket so it made sense. I’m basically the back up ruler, the one in charge if Loki’s doing something else or off world. After me’s Heimdall, mostly because he has actual responsibilities unlike the rest of us and can’t just rule Asgard along with them, though he really should because he’s the only ones with brains besides Loki.” She yawns and stretches to her full height. “Anyways, I better go track down the other gays, see ya later kids!” With that, she leaves, clapping Ned on the back as she passes.

All attention pins itself on Ned and MJ. “Is Loki seriously the a King of Asgard?” someone in the back mutters out loud.

“Yep,” MJ replies, popping the p. “Now, finish up otherwise I’m leaving without you.” The team scatters, gathering their trash and throwing it out in record time. When MJ threatens you, you listen to her.

Back in Lab 68...

“SIR STAB NO!” Allen yells as he chases the Roomba who is playing Never Gonna Give You Up from it’s speakers and stabbing people in the ankles.

Peter is dying from laugher as he watches, that is until Sir Stab decides to attach his ankles. Then Peter screams and parkours his way to the other side of the room in ten seconds flat, a special feat in and of itself considering there’s about three tables between the two walls.

Carrie and Saph act like depressed aunts, perched on the tables Peter just parkoured over, drinking straight from the bottle. Xeri ignores the chaos and refuses to back down in the intense game of Uno between Harley, Pire, and himself, petting Sir Stab absentmindedly when it stabs him. 

Then Sir Stab runs over a fallen balloon which somehow manages to catch on fire and that’s how the balloons ended up on fire as Allen tried to capture the robot and Peter furiously tries to avoid getting stabbed while not getting champagne on his shirt and put out the FIRE because there’s a FIRE HARLEY.

“Hush darlin’, I’m about to win!”

“FIRE FIRE FIRE THERE’S A FRICKING FIRE!!”

“Sir Stab come HERE!”

“Win? In your dreams POTATO BOY!” Xeri yells, slamming down a draw 4+ card.

“YOU BASTARD!”

“The color’s Red.”

“YOU DIDN’T!” Pire screams.

“OH I JUST DID!”

“UNO REVERSE!” Harley calls out, slapping it down.

“YOU TOOK THAT FROM YOUR SLEEVE YOU CHEATER!” 

“PROVE IT MUGGLE!”

“SHUT UP PEASANTS!” Pire screams, tossing a draw 2+ on to the pile.

Allen finally corners Sir Stab, picking it up with only two stabs and gently placing it in it’s charging deck. It beeps happily and shuts down. “Guess it was just low on battery,” he muses, turning to help Peter with the balloons but stopping when he sees the streamers on fire. “What the-”

“IT’S ALL FALLING APART!” Peter screeches.

“FRIDAY Protocol This is Fine!” Allen yells.

Instantly the fire-stopping foam rains down, the three players leaping under a table and continuing to play, screaming at each other as Saph and Carrie wipe away the foam from their faces in confusion.

Once the game ends—“SHOVE IT PEASANTS” as Pire declared their win—they clean up the lab and each other, reminded once again of how nice it is to have towels around.

“Thanks guys for having us,” Peter thanks the group as he and Harley leave.

“No problem, come down me see Sir Stab any time!” Carrie invites.

“Will do. Bye guys!” Harley says, hopping into the elevator, followed by Peter.

“Where to next, dear boyfriend of mine?” Peter asks, using a random British accent.

“Why, our lab of course dear love of my life!”

“Why of course, light of my life!”

Giggling like mad men, they head up to their lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sorry this is so late, I just have a lot of stuff going on and I’m trying to keep it together. I know it’s trash, I’m struggling with the pacing. Again, really sorry, please don’t sue me.


	8. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The calm before all hell is let loose (for the second time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods I’m so so so so sorry for taking so long!

MJ leads the team through their assigned labs. By the time they’re out of Purple Lab 26, aka Bringing Fiction into Reality since 2017, everyone has decided they _have to work here._ Playing with fire, creating anti-gravity rooms, making a pen that turns into a sword?! How could you not want to work there?!

Smirking, MJ leads them to Blue Lab 85, where they’re greeted by Issac. 

“Hey kids, welcome to Lab 85! Also known as Skittles for Life, not to be confused with Taste the Rainbow, which is Green Lab 39. I’m Issac, he/him pronouns, the Red Skittle of this group.”

Ned speaks up. “Hey Issac, they don’t understand your lab’s ranks.”

Issac blinks a couple times then it clicks. “Oh! Right right, well since we’re the Skittles kids we have ranks based on their colors. Red is the leader/boss responsible for everyone’s safety, which is really hard with these danger-prone kids-”

“You love us!” one of them calls from farther into the lab.

“That’s Brooke, who’s Yellow, which stands for second in command.” He calls over his shoulder, “For the last time I am not your guys’ father!”

“LIAR!” everyone in the lab yells.

Issac huffs but smiles lovingly at his family before turning back to the tour group. “Green for the ones responsible for the experiments, that would be Nix and Justin, Blue for the recorders of the data, which are Gaia and Ina, and then Purple for the caretakers of the experiments, which would be Lee and Jane. Any questions before I show off my team?”

“What’d you working on right now?”

“We’re reviewing Green’s Lab 53: Plastic Promises. Yes they’re all Set It Off fans, but they’re also pissed at governments and dedicated to creating better, easier ways of breaking down plastic, creating more renewable ways of running cars, and reversing desertification. The project they sent up for testing is a reversing desertification one.”

“What’s the project do exactly?”

“Can’t say, it’s classified.”

“Why are you the Skittle for Life lab?”

“We once ate eight pounds of Skittles on movie night. We were throwing up rainbows for an hour afterwards, but it was still worth it!”

“What are your team’s pronouns?”

Issac grins at Betty, over joyed someone asked about his beautiful children. “Brooke uses she/her and they/them pronouns, currently it’s a she/her day. Nix uses they/them, Justin uses he/him, Gaia uses she/her, Ina uses she/her, Lee uses he/him, and Jane uses she/her. Thank you for asking!!”

“All right Issac, get moving, we have thirty more minutes,” MJ prompts. 

“Alright alright, I’m going.” He precedes to show the tour group around, showing off the testing area.

It goes well and they’re about to leave when Justin and Nix run in from the holding room and literally drag Ned away with them.

“Um Issac what’re they doing with Ned?” Mr. Harrington asks nervously.

“I have a pretty good idea. Let’s watch them.” Issac guides them to the window where they can look into the room where Ned listens intently to Nix and Justin, who seem to be explaining a situation they’re having with via completing each other’s sentences.

When they finish Ned nods his head and turns to a computer, bringing up screens left and right. The three pour over them, analyzing the data with a fine tooth comb until Ned excitedly points out something and the trio cheers. Ned speedily types out some code or something, the students can’t see what exactly it is, and the two employees hug him tightly before letting him out of the room.

He walks out grinning ear to ear, as happy as when he puts on his confidence hat. Then he sees the looks his team,ages are giving him and he asks confusedly, “What?”

“Why’d they drag you off?” Tyler asks from the back.

“Oh, the project they were watching suddenly started acting up so since they knew I was here they grabbed me to help them look for the mistake.”

“But why you?” Abe asks next. “No offense dude, but why not their teammates?”

Ned shrugs. “I’m good with computers and programming, and since the problem seemed to be a computer programming problem they grabbed me.”

“Plus he hacked FRIDAY a couple times and works with the Doc a lot so he’s basically the best solution without asking the big guys down,” Issac adds. “Anyways, it was nice to have you kids here, enjoy the rest of the tour!”

MJ leads her stunned teammates plus a sheepish Ned to the elevators. When they load up the elevator and it starts moving she takes the time to check in with her mini team. “Security Man, we all set?”

“Yeah,” Happy replies.

“Goddess of Mischief?”

“All set,” Loki replies smoothly. 

“Perfect.” She turns off it off just as the elevator doors open to White Level 39, Pepper’s personal meeting room. To her tour group she says, “Alright off the metal cage swinging on metal ropes.” No surprise, everyone gets off extremely quickly. Smirking, MJ leads them into the actual meeting room. She instructs them to take a seat, choosing to stand as she pulls up conspiracy theories on her phone. 

Then, like every hero’s theme, the sounds of clicking heels sounds and then the door’s opening and boom, Pepper Pots, the most dangerous business woman in the world, walks in.

There’s a faint audible gasp when the students notice her, prompting Pepper to smile sweetly at them. “Hello and welcome to Stark Industries, I’m Pepper Pots.”

“Hey Pepper,” the two interns say smiling back at their second mother figure.

“Oh hi MJ, Ned. I was told Peter and Harley won’t be joining us, but they will be at the meeting after this?”

“Yep, sorry about the changing schedule,” MJ apologizes.

“No problems here, I personally can’t wait.” Pepper sits herself down at the front, putting on her public face. “This is a Q&A, ask away.”

Like a tidal wave, the questions flood out.

“Are you married to Mr. Stark?”

“No, Tony and I are currently figuring out our relationship after the Snap and Reverse Snap.”

“Do you have an heir for CEO?”

“Yes I do.” Pepper’s controlled smile brightens and loosens up. She obviously cares deeply about her heir.

“Does Mr. Stark have an heir?”

“He does.”

“Who are your heirs?”

“I cannot say, however both are very intelligent, resourceful young people who I have the upmost confidence in.”

“How has running such a high profile company affected you?”

“I like to think it has taught me a lot, along with proving that anyone can turn a company into a million dollar one, but it takes a special team to make it not only into a multi-billion dollar company but one devoted to a better quality of living for everyone in the world.”

“What struggles have you experienced being a woman in your field?”

“Sexual remarks, blatant sexism and misogyny, thousands of offers and/or orders for sex to get a promotion, death threats, harassment from fellow employees, bosses, and media, a great deal of disrespect towards me, despicable rumors, need I continue?”

“How has your experiences affected SI’s workplace polices and tolerance?”

“Greatly. SI has always been a fairly progressive workplace, however since I took over I have made sure we cracked down even harder on any form of harassment. I myself and Tony have striven to create a safe, healthy environment for all workers here. Our employees’ health, education, and safety are our number one priority, even above making money. They mean everything to us, something I wish I had had in my early career.”

The meeting goes on for a long time, most focused on workplace changes, the change of focus from weapons to better living and how did the transition work, and possible employee or intern opportunities.

All too soon, MJ calls an end to the meeting, thanking her mentor before she leaves. “Ready to meet the Avengers, team?” she asks.

Dead silence, then...

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”

Smirking as always, she nods and opens the door for the stampede of students and teacher rushing to get into the elevator.

She and Ned stroll into the elevator and FRIDAY brings them to Red Level 1, one of the meeting rooms for the Avengers.

Just as the group streams out of the elevator, her earpiece fires up. “The teacher lady is headed your way MJ, the trash has been picked up, unfortunately,” Happy says.

Frowning in annoyance, MJ replies, “Guess we’ll just have to have a rematch at court instead here. Thanks for the warning Happy.”

Stepping out of the elevator, MJ takes a seat next to Ned at the back of the room. They play on their phones until two giggling boys stumble in, the taller one toweling the shorter one’s fluffy hair of white foam for the second time that day.

“Parker! Keener! Over here you nerds!” MJ calls.

The two plop down in the seats next to Ned and MJ, leaning into each other as they turn to the other two.

“Hey gang,” Peter greets, “whatcha been up to?”

“The labs, Purple and Blue, and a Q&A with Pepper,” MJ answers, not looking up from her phone.

“What about you guys?” Ned asks.

“Nearly it stabbed by a robot,” Peter says as Harley replies with “Lost to a cheater in UNO.”

“Mood.”

They chill for a minute, until the elevator doors bing open and the doors open to reveal Ms Purl, fury burning in her eyes. The four her hatred-fueled gaze is pointed at stare back in varying degrees of unimpressment, 100% done with her BS, and daring her to bring it on because they’ll win. 

She huffs and angrily stalks her way to the seat next to Mr. Harrington, texting his maybe boyfriend everyone in class thinks he likes but they don’t know if they’re dating yet or not. Considering his tragedies of two marriages, they don’t think he’s dating yet. Needless to say, they’re ready to confront the person if the two start dating as, even though Mr. Harrington is a bit clueless sometimes, he really does care about them like their his kids and they love him like an odd uncle/father-ish figure.

MJ goes back to her phone, pulling up a book she downloaded a while ago, something about Queer Culture over the centuries. It’s proving to be fascinating, as most tribes accepted queers and trans/genderfluid people as normal and sometimes even god blessed. It’s so different than the edited history that’s taught in school. 

Which reminds her, she needs to start jotting down ideas for her next rant post. Something for feminism and queer culture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wrote this with an aching hand, sleep deprivation, stomaches, and music. In one night. Cause I hate myself *insert finger guns*
> 
> School’s been a killer, even when it’s at home. I’ve been procrastinating, among other things, and basically I’m struggling. But I really enjoyed writing this, so hopefully I’ll be back in 3 days with more exciting chapter.


	9. I’m So Sorry

**THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE!**

**I’M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS!**

This story is going on a small break, just until May 15.

I have an AP test and need to study _a lot_ because it counts as college credit if I pass and that means one less class I have to pay for when college does come around, plus I haven’t had much motivation to write last week. Add in my mental state that is doing me no favors and I just need to know that you know that I’m not updating so I don’t feel guilty.

So, I repeat:

**I WILL NOT BE POSTING A NEW CHAPTER UNTIL MAY 15.**

Thank you for your patience, I really wish I could update sooner but I need this time. I have to put my education first.

Hope you’re all safe and I’ll see you on May 15!


	10. Avengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions, just questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What if I feel stabby?!

Peter hears a faint ping and he breaks into a grin and nudges the others. MJ puts away her phone as Ned leans in and asks, “Which one is it?”

Slightly unsteady feet but confident, a trained warrior, and Peter can almost taste the faint smell of alcohol. “Val,” he whispers, barely containing the urge to rush out and hug his drunk lesbian aunt.

The others grin and wait for the Gay Goddess to arrive. And then Peter hears her footsteps stop as the elevator pings again and more people come out. A steady, sure step next to a soft, stealthy slip of a foot along with a fellow assassin’s footstep but with the weight of a super soldier behind it, and of course the slightly soften version of a military walk. “Actually, Steve, Bucky, Nat, and Sam seem to have joined her,” he adds. 

“The old man must have something planned then, if he’s not first,” Harley whispers.

“He always has something planned,” Peter replies right before the doors burst open.

“Hellooooooo children!” Val practically yells as she saunters in. She stands up at the front. “I brought you two seniors, a queen, and a bird.” Ms Purl looks at her disapprovingly.

Steve coughs awkwardly. “We’ve met before. This is Sam Wilson, also known as Falcon, and Valkyrie, Leader of the Asgardian Army.”

“давно не виделись дети,” Nat says smirking.

“Привет!” the four teens reply with.

“Вы единственные, кто делает это или есть еще?” Harley asks her.

“Больше. Старк, однако, будет последним.” Nat confirms the four’s suspicions.

“Excuse me,” Ms Purl begins to say but Val cuts her off.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” the drunk gay goddess spouts, taking a swig from her bottle.

Peter hears the elevator open again and whispers, “Thor, Loki, and Clint are next,” he whispers to the group.

“So,” Betty starts, “are there going to be more of you, or-” The doors open and Thor, Loki, and Clint walk in. “Oh, nevermind. Question answered.”

“Alright kiddies, let’s get this show on the road!” Clint shouts excitedly.

“There’s still people missing Clint, we can’t start without them,” Steve argues.

“Wanda, Vision, and Bruce,” Peter whispers.

On cue, those three walk in. “Hi everyone,” Wanda greets.

“Hello children,” Vision says, taking his place next to Wanda at the front.

“Incoming in three,” Peter starts counting down, “.... two...... one.”

The double doors burst open, allowing Tony Stark to walk in like the dramatic pansexual he is. “And that,” he says, practically strutting up the aisle and to the front with the other Avengers, “is how,” he spins around to face the students, “you make an entrance.”

The decathlon team erupts into cheers and clapping, the four in the back rolling their eyes and sarcastically clapping a bit. Well, Ned claps enthusiastically because he’s nice like that, but everyone else in the quartet claps sarcastically.

“Yeah yeah, I know I’m your favorite Avenger, don’t rub it in their faces,” Tony jokes. The others roll their eyes fondly at their over-the-top teammate.

“Now, this is a Q&A session,” Steve starts.

“-but before we get into that we’d like to introduce ourselves,” Tony interrupts. “I’m Iron Man and Tony Stark. He/him pronouns, pansexual. Let’s go down the line, ya? Capsicle, you first.”

Sighing at being interrupted, Steve goes next. “I’m Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America. He/him pronouns and I’m gay.” He nudges his boyfriend.

“Fine fine, jeeze Stevie. I’m Bucky Barnes, formerly known as the Winter Soldier and now known as the White Wolf. He/him pronouns, and I’m a raging bisexual.”

Ms Purl is livid, lips pursed as tight as possible and eyes ready to kill.

“Sam Wilson, aka Flacon. He/him pronouns, bi-romantic homosexual.”

“Natasha Romanov, also known as Black Widow. She/her pronouns, aro asexual.”

“I’m Valkyrie,” she takes another swig of the bottle in her hand, “that last Valkyrie and full time Leader of the Armies of Asgard. She/her pronouns and I’m a lesbian.”

“I thought you were American!” the quartet yell from the back.

Ms Purl turns around to yell at them but then Thor interrupts.

“And I am Thor, warrior of Asgard, Odinson, god of thunder! He/him pronouns and I am pansexual, as you Midgardians call it.”

“I am Loki, Queen of Asgard, Odindaughter, rightful queen of Jotunheim, goddess of mischief. I am genderfluid and am currently using she/her pronouns. I am also pansexual.”

“I’m Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye. I use he/him pronouns and am pan-romantic heterosexual.”

“I am Vision. I am non binary, therefore please use they/them pronouns when referring to me. My sexuality is complicated, however to sum it up I am only attracted to females.”

Peter can feel the hatred radiating off of Ms Purl and can’t help but feel a tinge of joy, knowing she’s surrounded by the very people she hates.

“My name is Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch. She/her pronouns and I am demi-heterosexual.”

“I’m Bruce Banner, I’m the head of the Green department and I turn into the Hulk. My pronouns are he/him and I’m asexual.”

“And that’s the team!” Tony finishes. “Of course Rhodey Rhodes, aka War Machine, isn’t here because he’s in Washington, and Carol Danvers, Captain Mar-vell though really I just say Marvel, much easier to say, is off world at the moment, so really the team isn’t all together but this is probably the best we’ve gotten yet.”

“What about Ant-Man and Wasp?”

“They work with us but aren’t part of the team,” Sam explains.

“And the sorcerers? The two that showed up at Blecker Street where the aliens took Mr. Stark, one of them, and Spider-Man along with the ones at the Reverse Snap?”

“The leader of them is a backup Avenger while the rest work with us but aren’t part of the Avengers,” Tony explains. He’d gotten close to the Doctor over the day they spent on a spaceship and then planet before the Snap. Something about they’d met before, a dozen years back or something.

“What about the Guardians of the Galaxy?”

“Same thing as Ant-Man and Wasp,” Steve explains.

“Spider-Man?”

“He’s a special case,” Tony begins. “I actually asked him to become an Avenger but he decided to stay on the ground and help the little guy, plus he wanted to finish up school. He helps us out when we need him, and will eventually become an Avenger once he’s ready to accept.”

“What do you mean, Mr. Wilson, when you say you’re bi-romantic homosexual?”

“Oh um,” Sam blinks, caught off guard at being asked a question. “It means I’m open to having a romantic relationship with guys or girls, but I’d only have a romantic and sexual relationship with a guy.”

“What about you two, Ms. Romanov and Mr. Banner? Can you explain asexuality please?”

“Asexuality,” Bruce starts off, “means we don’t experience sexual attraction towards others. At all.”

“And being aromantic asexual means in addition to that I have no romantic attraction towards others,” Nat finishes.

Another kid asks, “Can you explain how Vision was created? I mean, a person in a body built of vibranium plus an infinity stone! How does THAT happen?”

The Avengers giggle nervously. “We can’t-t exactly go into details,” Bruce stutters slightly.

“But to sum it up, Ultron tried to create a body for himself and the Mind Stone was implanted into the body,” Vision explains without much emotion. “Before he downloaded himself into the body, the Avengers stopped him. I awoke as someone different from him and JARVIS.”

Kids continue to raise their hands, asking about Avengers stuff and a little bit of their pasts.

“So Captain Rodgers and Sargent Barnes, what’s it like to turn out to being living in a new century?” a kid in the middle asks, Sally, Peter thinks.

“It’s very strange, but all together not terrible,” Steve answers honestly.

“I’ll tell you, it’s great to have money,” Bucky starts off with. “But the inflation is crazy! Everything’s so _expensive_ now. And your fruit! It’s disgusting! There’s no flavor to anything, literally everything tastes like nothing. Like bananas, BANANAS! They taste like cardboard! And don’t get me started on apples, they’re so obnoxiously sweet and sugary now, no real flavor at all. But it is nice to know that being gay is okay, and colored people and women aren’t being as oppressed, oh and trans people. God Stevie, remember Evan? I wonder what happened to him. I hope he survived. I think he’d really like to know he’d be able to be himself nowadays.”

“Yeah Buck, I bet wherever Evan is he’s happy being himself.”

“Who’s Evan?” Betty asks.

“Evan was our neighbor, back when we moved into our own apartment,” Steve explains. “He was a boy born in a girl’s body, real great guy.”

“Yeah, lived two stories down from us. We helped him find a forger to get proper papers for him, what ever they for?”

“Factory I think, canning?”

“Nah, gotta be paper mill. He smuggled you art paper that one time.”

“Oh right.”

“Loki, how’d you become Queen?” another kid asks.

“Thor gave up his title long ago, and while Valkyrie is more than capable she is no ruler. Heimdal would have become King but he has other jobs. Therefore, I became Queen.”

“Mr. Stark, is it true that you have an heir for Iron Man?” Abe calls out.

“I do have an heir for Iron Man, but he won’t be appearing unless there is zero hope in anyone except him, I retire, or I die. We, all of us, are hoping it will be the second option,” Tony answers, taking a split second to glance at Harley before going back to watching the room.

“What’s the next Iron Man’s name? Or will it just be Iron Man?”

“One, no he has a new name. Two, we have a lot of suits already created, but he’s not coming out unless one of the before stated reasons occurs. And three, I won’t be saying his hero name because that’s only coming out when he does.”

“Will Spider-Man ever join the Avengers someday?”

“Oh definitely, he’s not getting out of it. It’s in my will and everything.”

“Speaking of your will, who will take over SI after your death? Is it going to Ms Potts?”

Tony laughs. “It’s complicated, but basically there are three main people who will be taking over after my death. See, Pepper is the CEO and one of the people is going to become the next CEO. The other two will become co-owners, like how I am. Besides those three, there are people who’re the heirs of certain positions in the company, but they only take over after the retirement and/or death of the people in those positions. Needless to say, yes, I have heirs in place.”

“Do these people know they are heirs?”

“Oh no, none of them do. Well, one may. She’s scary like that. But I have a feeling they’ll be told soon.”

It moves on to other topics, but all too soon it ends.

“Alright kids, thank you for coming!” Clint says as the kids leave.

Once they’re out of the room with the door shut, Ms Purl grabs Peter’s upper arm in an iron grip. “Parker and I will be having a quick _chat_ before we leave,” she says, pulling Peter away into an empty room. Harley glared at her and whispers to FRIDAY to record their interaction and send him the audio of it in real time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Russian:  
> “давно не виделись дети” = Long time no see children.  
> “ Привет” = Hi  
> “ Вы единственные, кто делает это или есть еще?” = are you the only ones doing this or are there more?  
> “ Больше. Старк, однако, будет последним.” = More. Stark will be the last one to come though.
> 
> So I lied slightly about when this was coming out. It’s been a crazy week and let’s just say I’m lying in one class but it’s fine, I’m fine and I’ll live. Hope this was satisfactory!!


	11. Battle Comes in Many Forms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ms Purl gets what's coming for her. And Peter deals with a couple of his demons, his boyfriend at his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry for how late this is! School kinda exploded in my face and made it so I 1) barely got any sleep, 2) barely had any time for anything else, and 3) lost all of my motivation for life and stuff.
> 
> But now school's out and I'm ready to go (sorta. ish. maybe)!! Hope you enjoy this one, I know y'all have been dying for this.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS SERIOUSLY READ THIS IS GETS BAD: transphobia, homophobia, panic attacks, PTSD, physical violence/abuse, mentions of ways of dying, nightmares, dysphoria.

“What’d you want to talk about,” Peter asks Ms Purl as she closes the door behind herself.

“Oh there’s a lot I need to talk to you about young lady,” she snarls, turning to face Peter, anger in her face and hate in her eyes. Peter winces at the incorrect pronouns. “I know you told them to do this, to use these fake sexualities and genders to make it seem better for others to use them too. And that crazy story about that poor girl Captain America knew, please,” she scoffs. “I know you made that up for them to say, just like you made up this... transgender mess. Honestly, your poor deceived family, no wonder you’re all so poor, you convinced them that this was right and they went along with it! And what now? You’re a girl in a plastic surgery-created man’s body. Congratulations, it isn’t real. One day people will recognize you as the abomination you are, and I can’t wait till that happens, because I’ve seen this since the beginning-”

“Can you stop?” Peter asks.

“What was that?”

“I said,” Peter repeats, looking up from his shoes, “can you stop?”

She scoffs. “As usual, no manners to speak of-”

“Yes I’m transgender, but that wasn’t a choice I got to make. I’m a boy born in a girl’s body, but through prescribed medication and two surgeries I’m now a boy in a boy’s body. And I’m very lucky to have a supportive family who accepted me and helped me get what I needed so that I’m able to be where I am right now. I never asked any of the Avengers to say anything about their genders or sexualities, that was all their own decision!”

“Right, and the claim that two men from 1940 are in a relationship is true.” She sneers at him. 

“Actually they are.”

She snorts. “And Captain America's relationship with Mrs. Carter was fake then?”

“It was.”

“Stop lying Rachel!”Ms Purl screams, taking a threatening step forward. Peter takes a step back, shoulders tensing.

“I’m not lying! And my name’s Pe-”

“No it’s not! It’s Rachel Parker, you are a girl and you like boys because you’re a girl, not because you’re some twisted, confused girl-”

“I recommend,” FRIDAY interrupts with as much venom in her voice as possible, “you get away from Peter before security gets here, otherwise you will have attempted physical abuse added to your list of crimes while here today.”

The teacher scoffs. “What crimes are that? Telling the truth to a misguided child?”

“Discrimination on the bias of gender and sexual identity, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse are the most notable, however you also have broken multiple rules in the NDA you signed and were informed of twice while here.” Peter can hear the satisfaction she gets from saying all of that. He smiles a little bit, glad to know he has the AI to back him up as he struggles to push back a panic attack. 

It’s okay, it’s okay, he has the surgeries, his name is changed, he is a boy in all ways, he’s not binding anymore. This is a boy’s body, not a girl’s body. He is completely male.

“Shut it Parker,” Ms Purl snarls.

“W-what?” he asks, his small smile fading away.

“Stop smirking at me, you haven’t won at all.”

Smirking? Won? What is she talking about?! “What are you talking about?”

“I mean that smirk on you face, don’t pretend to be dumb Parker! You’re smirking at me because you think you’ve won!”

“I’m not playing dumb I seriously don’t understand what you’re sa-”

**SMACK**

Peter stares in shock at his teacher, hand coming up to gently touch the burning red skin of his cheek. That she just slapped.

He can see her mouth moving, angry and hateful words no doubt, but he can’t hear a thing. He’s in shock. Getting slapped is something that happens on the streets, as Spider-Man, not as Peter Parker in his own home. It’s done by criminals, not by a teacher. 

He must have spaced out or something, because next thing he knows Harley and Wanda are hugging him on the couch with a couple blankets wrapped around them and he has a cup of tea in front of him while Star Trek plays in the background. 

“What happened?” he whispers quietly.

“What do you remember?” his boyfriend asks just as quietly, snuggling closer.

“Ms Purl took me to a side room. She-she yelled at me for lying, but I wasn’t lying. She... she slapped me,” he recounts, a hand unconsciously reaching up the hit cheek, finding the skin healed as usual. 

“Yeah, she did do that sweetheart.” Harley gently tugs the hand down from Peter’s face and replaces it’s touch with his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to Peter’s cheek before pulling back. Peter leans into Harley’s warmth, Wanda murmuring something under her breath as she follows Peter’s movements, causing him to realize that she’s actually asleep. “Well after she slapped you, security arrived and arrested her. MJ and I were right on their heels, Ned wanted to but we sent him down with the others. Mr. Harrington took everyone home, MJ and Ned had to go with him. You were pretty much out of it, shock and what I think may have been a panic attack but I’m not sure. I took you up here and called up Wanda so we could have a cuddle session until you came back.”

“How long has it been?”

“A couple hours. Fri, what time is it?”

“It’s seven thirty. Boss would like me to inform you that dinner is ready anytime you are ready. You can take it wherever, The Gang will be out for a few hours for dinner and then a meeting with Eyepatch,” the AI replies.

“Thanks Fri.” Harley turns slightly to look Peter in the eyes. “You okay to get up darling, or should I grab you food and we eat on the couch?”

The weight of the blankets and Wanda passed out on his shoulder is keeping him grounded, Peter notices now that Harley mentions it, because there’s a flighty feeling in his chest and stomach that tell him it’s best he doesn’t get up because otherwise he may just float away. “Can we eat here tonight?”

“’Course sweetheart,” Harley replies smoothly, getting up and tucking the blankets closer to Peter before pressing a kiss to his forehead and then moving to the elevator bank.

Peter watches the episode that’s on, it’s The Next Generation, probably season two but he’s not sure. He’s not paying enough attention to it to figure it out, he’s really just trying to stay in the present and not float away.

Soon Wanda wakes up. “Where’s Harley?”

“Went to get us dinner. He’ll be back soon.”

He can feel her eyes scanning him for injuries or signs of not being all the way there. He turns slightly to face her and gives her a half smile. She nods. “Is touch okay?”

“Please.” She smiles and wraps an arm around his shoulders, tucking him into her side before asking FRIDAY to turn up the volume a bit.

Harley comes up not long after that, four plates of food balanced carefully on a giant platter they got for situations like this. “Plate for you darling,” he says, waiting for the sibling-like duo to get into a good enough position to eat from a plate while still being covered by blankets. When they’re ready he hands them each a plate of shawarma before placing the last two plates on the coffee table and setting the platter to the side. He then gets under the blankets and wiggles his way next to his boyfriend before taking one of the plates left to eat from.

They eat there, Peter sandwiched between his sister from another family and his boyfriend. Once the episode finishes up Peter has FRIDAY change it to the Bee Movie. The trio spend the rest of the night snacking from the fourth plate and quoting every meme and movie created, plus the other lines they’ve memorized just because they’re iconic.

Loki finds them asleep on the couch at 2am, when he was up looking for a cup of tea. He ends up portaling them to their beds and magicking their dishes clean, but finds himself in Peter’s room when the younger one starts having a nightmare. After sitting on the edge of Peter’s bed and rubbing circles into his back for a couple minutes, Peter manages to calm down, still in his sleep. With some internal debate, Loki portals Harley to Peter’s side, and sighs happily when Harley unconsciously begins to spoon Peter, who relaxes further into dreamland. He leaves after that, doubling back for his tea and then heading back to his room.

Later that night, or rather, later that morning, Harley wakes up to find himself in Peter’s room, on Peter’s bed, with a shaking Peter in his arms. 

_He’s in his born body, skin crawling and lungs protesting as he binds his chest up again. Suddenly Ms Purl is there, yelling at him for doing that and coming at him, trying to tear the binding off. He screams, trying to break free of her hold while also trying to protect his binding. Her finger nails scrape at his face and chest, long angry red marks on his skin as his bindings start to unravel, Peter increasing his struggle against his teacher’s unbreakable hold on him—_

“Peter!” Harley yells worriedly as his boyfriend finally wakes up. He’s panting as his eyes flirt around the room, not stopping on one thing for more than a handful of seconds before they finally stop on Harley’s face. “Sweetheart, it’s okay. Wherever you were, it’s not here. We’re in your room at the Tower, you’re alive, Tony’s alive, everyone’s alive and well, you’re a male with a male body, and I love you no matter what.”

Peter swallows thickly and nods, carefully sitting up and then burying his face into Harley’s chest as he sobs; thick, terror-filled sobs.

Harley wraps his arms around Peter, holding him tightly and gently running his fingers through Peter’s fluffy, curly hair as the shorter one continues to sob into Harley’s shirt. He doesn’t mind, he knows Peter has nightmares, absolutely hell-ish nightmares fueled solely on his past. Peter told him about them all, the recurring ones and the ones he used to hav frequently but have resurfaced at time. Harley has started taking notes in his head, of Peter’s typical reactions after having which nightmare and what helps to calm him down the quickest. Problem is, there are seemingly thousands of nightmares. Thousands of battlefields, all in varying ways.

There’s his parent’s death. He’s confessed to Harley that he often imagines what it must have been like, and he’s afraid of being in a plane or aircraft now because of that.

Then there’s the Stark Exbo where he lost his aunt and uncle and then almost got killed by one of Hammer’s crazy bots. Tony saved him in real life, but in the nightmare Peter often contemplated what would have happened if Tony hadn’t been able to save him.

After that one there’s the one where he relives the body-racking pain that filled the day after getting bite by the radioactive spider.

Then there’s the countless times he nearly died by being Spider-Man, falling off of a building or getting shot or stabbed or bleeding out on a rooftop or alleyway or being drowned. The Vilture gave Peter so much PTSD.... saving the boat but his arms got literally torn off his body, drowning in the icy cold water, suffocating beneath concrete slabs, falling off of the airplane, being burned alive....

And of course the battle before the Snap, the Battle of Thanos. Just... everything from that battle, from when he flipped in and saved Tony’s life before an glave killed him to dusting, especially the dusting. And then the battle after the Reverse Snap, the War of the Stones. Everything from that, appearing in a battlefield after what felt like just being in another, to seeing so much destruction to seeing his third father-figure take the full force of the Infinity Stones without a flinch, to watching as Tony nearly died in front of him. And that’s just the Avengers and his family PTSD.

Today’s nightmare seems to have been a dysphoria one, based on the way Peter’s pressing his entire self against Harley, reminding and reassuring himself that he has a male body now, not a female body.

“Shh, it’s okay Peter,” he whispers into the soft curls of his trembling boyfriend. “You’re here, you’re here with me. You’re a boy with a boy’s body, no one can tell you otherwise because I’ve seen your abs and damn, if I wasn’t already dating you I’d be throwing myself at you because I don’t care what others may say, you’re beautiful. Yeah you have scars but everyone’s got scars, your’s show how much you’ve had to do to be yourself and that’s what makes me fall in love with you, over and over again.”

Peter giggles thickly, tears choking his voice slightly. “Really?”

“Uh duh! Have you seen yourself Peter? Hell, your classmates saw you shirtless yesterday and not one of them mentioned or noticed your scars, they were too drawn to your goddamn beauty. Besides, I gotta say, the scars kinda accent your pecs more so they look even more ripped than they are-”

Peter giggles louder and unburied his face from Harley’s chest and stares his boyfriend in the eye, still laughing. “I didn’t know you were so obsessed with abs and pecs Harls,” he teases.

“Only for you darling, only for you,” he reassures before pecking Peter’s adorable nose, causing Peter to giggle again, who smirks and kisses him on the lips.

They stay like that for a little bit, kissing and calming down from the nightmare. Once they break away, Harley gently lays the two of them down and asks the routine question: “What happened?”

“I was back in my female body,” Peter whispers to Harley. “I was binding, and then Ms Purl was there and she was trying to rip my binding off. Her nails were scraping me, I was trying to get away from her but my binding was unraveling... it hurt so much Harls....”

“Shh, I know sweetheart, I know. It’s okay though, she never knew you when you were in that body, and you’re not binding anymore because you have a male body now. You’re alright darling, you’re safe.”


	12. Fighting Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MJ and Pepper are terrifying. Never ever get in their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I said I would update and then I didn’t.
> 
> :/ 
> 
> It’s called “emotional numbness and the lack of motivation that comes with it”
> 
> Sorry

MJ arrived at the Tower at exactly 8 o’clock the day after the field trip. She walked into the lobby with her earpiece in, work bag on her shoulder, and power radiating out from her. Ava nods to her, understanding today is not the day for catching up. MJ nods back, grim faced and ready to do battle.

The elevator doors open and she walks into Pepper’s office. “Ready to sue people for hurting our cinnamon roll?” she asks, setting down her bag next to her desk.

“Let’s do it,” Pepper agrees.

MJ activates her screen and opens up her notes. “Alright so we have Eugene down for physical assault along with breaking the bullying and LGBTQIA+ rules, and Purl is down for verbal and emotional abuse plus breaking the LGBTQIA+ rules. Are we pressing charges right now or are we waiting to announce it?”

“Waiting, the legal team is finalizing the paperwork and would like your input.”

“Perfect. I’ll head down and talk with them.”

“Are you and Ned ready to testify against them?” Pepper asks quietly before she enters the elevator. 

MJ pauses, turning around to face her boss/mentor/second mom. “I can, I don’t know about everyone else. Ned should be able to, and Harley will definitely testify, but Peter....”

“I know.”

MJ nods and enters the elevator, going down to the conference room where the main legal team is working. 

She remembers every time Peter would be laughed at, be yelled at when he came out. Remembers the beat downs she’d walked into and then broke up. Remembers going into lunch and seeing fading bruises on Peter’s face and arms. The times she’s gotten Ned’s text saying Peter was breaking down or crying in one of the boys’ bathrooms. The times Ned would text her that the coast was clear so she could go in and pass off a protein bar or help ground him more. The times before he got top surgery and she had to force him to take off his binder before he damaged a rib or his lungs. The way he begged to wear the binder for just a bit more, even though it was starting to cut into his breathing.

She grits her teeth. Eugene and Purl have done so much against Peter, have hurt him so much on top of everything he’s had to deal with. It’s time they got what’s coming for them.

When the doors open, she throws herself into work. Adding evidence, writing up the reports, triple checking for loopholes and inconsistencies to kill before spending it off to another team for extra assurance of the law suit’s legality. As the team breaks for lunch, she gets the final copy of the lawsuit, immediately heading up to Pepper so she can look through it and confirm its release.

As she waits in the elevator she texts Ned, asking if he'll testify against Ms Purl and Flash. Right as the doors open, she gets his confirmation. "Hey Pepper, the final draft is here. And Ned says he'll testify."

"Thank you MJ, that’s good news. Now, before I look this over, let’s get some lunch. I heard Bucky’s making something.”

MJ smiles and follows her mentor into the elevator. “Have you seen Peter and Harley at all today?”

Pepper laughs. “No, but Loki mentioned that they had found the two plus Wanda asleep on the couch so they portaled them to their beds.”

“Well if that happened I bet they’ll only come out for lunch.”

“Most likely.”

The elevator doors open to reveal Steve pinned to the counter with Bucky passionately making out with him. Pepper rolls her eyes and checks her watch. “Slow down there boys,” she says.

“Oh you’re here,” Bucky comments, as if he wasn’t just caught kissing Steve into the counter. 

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” MJ snarks. “What’s for lunch?”

“Sandwiches,” he deadpans. 

“Aww but Bucky, I thought we would get some gourmet food,” Harley mutters walking in.

“Yeah, some comida de James,” Peter adds from his piggyback position on Harley’s back. Bucky rolls his eyes and moves towards the stove, allowing Steve to move from the counter to one of the bar stools. 

“Spanish nice, our teacher would be proud of you Peter,” MJ sasses.

“Just wait till she finds out I can speak Russian.”

“Don’t send the poor woman to an early grave Peter!” 

Pepper laughs. “FRIDAY, is there anyone else joining us for lunch?”

“No Queen.”

“Well good, I have enough to make everyone in this room quesadillas and that’s it,” Bucky grouches.

“Awww thanks Bucky,” they say in sync.

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

MJ and Pepper take a seat at the table, across from the seats Peter and Harley take. “So what have you guys been up to?” Harley asks.

“Preparing our cases against Eugene and Purl,” MJ replies coolly.

Peter immediately loses his smile. “Oh.”

Harley wraps an arm around his boyfriend. “Is it a solid one?”

“MJ has been working on it all day, the final draft is on my desk right now actually,” Pepper says. “We just need to know if you and Peter are willing to testify.”

“I am,” Harley answers, hugging Peter close. He knows how badly the idea of going in front of a bunch of people and telling them all the things that those two had done to Peter scares his boyfriend, so he whispers reassuringly, “If you don’t want to, we can always figure out something where you don’t have to testify.” 

“No, no I’ll… I’ll testify,” Peter replies softly. 

“Great, then once lunch is over I’ll check the final document and we’ll send it out to be officially released,” Pepper says.

“Lunch is served,” Bucky interrupts with the worst Italian accent ever, placing a giant stack of quesadillas down in the middle of the table.

The group cheers and takes one, the enhanced guys taking three. They start discussing the latest mission Steve and Bucky were sent on in the forests of Romania. “So we’re staking out a weapons deal right?” Bucky says. “And I’m here with my rifle, shooting guys down left and right, when the star spangled idiot himself fucking salutes my spot! And of course the guys notice that and start shooting at me-” 

“I said I was sorry!”

“I have enough metal in me you punk! I don’t need more!-anyway, so I’m running from their bullets and trying to shoot them at the same time. And I get away, obviously, but still! He used to do this in the war too, but I wasn’t enhanced back then-”

“Well you kinda were-”

“Shut up Stevie. ANYWAY…” Bucky talks for a while, but as soon as she’s done with her food Pepper leaves to take care of the lawsuit. MJ leaves after Bucky finishes, to work some more. Steve and Bucky disappear a bit later for a meeting with SHIELD. 

“Hey Harls?” Peter asks, checking the time.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you have a class soon?”

“Nah, they cancelled. Something about a friend mixing alcohol with five shots of espresso and a monster energy drink and nearly dying.”

“Harley what the-”

“It’s college darling, everyone’s dying inside.”

“Mood.” He stands up. “Right. Meet me in the lab in twenty?”

“Will do.”

They head to their different rooms, changing clothes from pajamas to lab clothes and filing their hair. Peter takes the chance to check social media and is stunned when his feed is blowing up with news stories about Stark Industries suing a teacher and a minor for bullying, breaking their rules while in the building, physically and verbally assaulting an intern. Everyone’s shocked, Twitter having a meltdown with everyone throwing out theories about what happened.

Peter walks out of his room, shocked, and somehow makes it to Harley and his lab/workshop. “Well well well, you from around here mister?” Harley flirts before seeing Peter’s face. “Sweetheart what’s going on?”

“Pepper released the lawsuit and everything’s blowing up,” Peter says as an explanation.

Harley gently takes his phone out of his hands and turns it off, setting it down on the table for good measure. “Yeah? And they both signed NDAs, they can’t say a thing.” Peter hesitantly smiles. “Now, let’s upgrade our suits because why not!”

His boyfriend laughs and shakes his head, pulling up the plans for webshooters that won’t jam up, no matter what. Harley throws on their lab playlist, a mix of musicals, emo music, and random songs they like. It’s great.

Later, after dinner, which was a buffet of pizza, Chinese, and Italian, Tony proposes a toast. Everyone either has wine, beer, or sparkling cider. He has cider, due to his swearing off any and all alcohol. “To Pepper and MJ and our lawyers, for the best case against some trashy people!” 

“Here here!”

“To Harley and MJ, for being great tour guides!”

“So good,” Peter says sarcastically, hugging his boyfriend.

“To us, for surviving the questions!”

“Why did we ever sign up to do this!” Clint yells.

“I have no idea Katniss! To Thor, Loki, Nat, MJ, Harley, and Peter, for nearly but not actually hurting the spoiled brat!”

“Who’s next on the list anyway?”

“Fri?” Tony asks, glancing up.

“Potato Boi is in first, then it’s Scary Woman, Legolas, Reindeer Games, Point Break, Jazz Hands, and Data.”

“Add me there too baby girl,” Tony says.

“Me and Stevie claim the next positions!” Bucky yells.

“Sign me up,” Sam adds.

“I’d like to be added too,” Bruce says.

“Wait am I not on there?” Valkyrie asks. “Add me there too.”

“Alright alright, I get it, y’all want to murder them!” Peter laughs out. “Can we finish the toast Dad?”

“Yeah yeah. To murdering bigots!” Tony cheers, everyone taking a drink from their glass.

“Anthony where the hell is your good wine, this is disgusting,” Loki complains, wrinkling his nose.

“It’s not that bad Elsa,” Tony mocks as he checks the bar for more wine. “Red or white?”

“Red.”

“Hmm, well I have something that’s been in storage for a decade so let’s see if it suits your tastes,” Tony grumbles without heat, pulling out a dusty bottle. “Here.”

“Thank you.” Loki grabs the bottle and unseals it, quickly pouring it into his glass and taking a sip. “Now that,” he says, savoring it like he always does, “is a proper red wine.”

“Yeah yeah, sit on the couches for movie night Ice King.”

Loki rolls his eyes but joins the rest of the group, who had moved to the couches for their normal movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "comdia de Bucky" is Spanish for Bucky's food
> 
> I’m back!!! And did it seem forced? Yes. Do I feel proud for writing this anyway? Yes. 
> 
> Also um... I’m getting my AP exam score in like, two to three days. i’M nOt nErVoUs aT aLl wHaT aRe yOu tAlKiNg aBoUt??!
> 
> Anyways, I’ll try to update sometime next week, we’re moving out of the field trip arc and into a more... treacherous arc. But before we do, I need to know so please, comment your answers to my questions after this because I need to know.
> 
> Questions: What ships do you want besides the ones already in the tags (must work with the characters’ sexualities as stated in chapter 10: Avengers)?  
> Flash redemption arc or no?  
> Do you want any of the people from the lab tours to reappear?? And if so, who!?
> 
> Please please please comment your answers, I need to know to write the future chapters!


	13. See You In Court

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter: the court case arc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is one (1) character from another fandom I have placed in this chapter. Who ever figures it out first will.... I don’t know, get a shoutout and maybe a minor character who shows up once in the next chapter? We’ll see, I highly doubt anyone will figure it out, it’s a relatively small fandom.

“Ready love?” Harley asks, pressing a gentle kiss to Peter’s forehead.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Peter replies shakily, squeezing Harley’s hand. Peter’s wearing a pair of sunglasses connected to Karen, partly to keep the AI nearby in case something happens, and in part to block any lights that could trigger a sensory overload or panic attack or PTSD flashbacks. Harley aches for his boyfriend, knowing this won’t be easy. He offers him a reassuring smile that Peter returns if a bit nervously, then Harley opens the door and steps out, holding his hand for Peter’s. He gets out and stands next to him, both in suits they had worn at the memorial service for those who died in the battles of Thanos.

The memories are still too fresh. 

Tony comes up from behind them and gently steers them away from the cars and into the courtroom, ignoring the microphones being shoved at them and the camera flashes that could easily trigger Peter with the ease of being in the spotlight since he was born. _This is why he has the sunglasses_ , Harley repeats in his head, fighting the urge to take Peter away from here and hide him somewhere safe, anywhere that’s far away from the media. 

At last they’re inside the building, where Ned and Loki are. Thor was called off world sadly, there was a small rebellion trying to start that he was being called to quell. Ned looks well enough, he’s wearing a black suit without a tie and is fiddling with his hands nervously but that’s expected. Loki though, they’re in a fitted forest green silk jacket with a black button up and expensive green and gold scarf. They’re ready to murder. Harley, Peter, and Tony, who Harley can now see is in one of his classic Tony Stark suits, crowd around the others, chatting quietly until someone leads them to a metal detector. 

“You’ll have to leave all weapons here,” they say, glancing at Loki.

Everyone gets through fine, Peter and Tony keeping their glasses, except Loki who spends the next ten minutes emptying his suit of knives, daggers, swords, three axes, five spears, and a couple glowing orb things that Harley thinks may be a grenade-like thing but he has no idea and doesn’t want to know... yet. Eventually he stops, but Harley has a feeling that he still has some daggers up his sleeves.

Then the intern leads them to the room. It’s silent as a tomb when they walk in, Pepper and MJ sitting straight back and professional with two other lawyers next to them. Pepper is in her typical outfit, MJ in a white button up and black pants, which is terrifying because she looks like a mob boss. The two lawyers are in the normal light grey suit black tie thing you’d see from any lawyer. Across the aisle is a blank faced Eugene and glaring Ms Purl with their two lawyers. Eugene cleaned up, wearing a typical rich kid suit that was definitely from some obscure but insanely expensive brand while Ms Purl is in a green blouse and grey pencil skirt, the two’s lawyers again sticking to the average lawyer dress. The jury isn’t there yet, nor is the judge. They all take seats behind Pepper and MJ. 

“All rise for the judge!” someone says, so they do. Peter is gripping his hand tightly, but Harley doesn’t mind in the slightest because he’s nervous too. The room is so imposing, and there’s no natural light at all, something he misses from working in the Tower’s labs and rooms. There is always natural light in them always. Same with his classes actually, though with those it’s often restricted or taken away for an hour or two, but there’s always at least a bit of it there. There’s always a little bit of light, but there’s none in here.

“You may be seated,” someone, the judge, says, and he follows everyone in sitting down. While he got lost in his thoughts, the judge and jury had walked in. The judge is a younger one, got to be around thirty. There’s not much to see about them, black hair gelled back into a professional look, dark blue eyes behind thick black glasses, pale skin but with a slight tan. “May the case,” the judge bangs their gravel on their desk, “begin.”

The doors behind them close with a finality Harley dislikes.

“I am Judge Logan Sanders-Crofter,” the judge introduces, “and I will be hearing this case. Your opening statements?” 

Harley watches as first their lawyers say their piece, then what must be Eugene’s lawyer says his defense, then lastly Ms Purl’s lawyer says her defense.

Judge Crofter nods. “Witnesses?”

Their side names Peter, Harley, MJ, Ned, and Loki.

The defense’s lawyers name Ms Purl and Eugene.

Then, the questioning starts. The lead lawyer calls up MJ first, probably because she’s the most ready besides Loki. But Loki’s always ready. That mask he wears is incredibly strong and can hold up against just about everything. Besides, he’s angry. An angry Loki means a focused Loki. The lawyers have no idea what they’ll unleash when they question him.

She stares at the Bible, then says, “Sorry, but I’m an atheist. Can I have a book of law?” Judge Crofter inclines his head and soon an intern comes in with a book of law, then leaves. Now she lays her hand on the book and raises her hand.

“Do you swear,” the judge says, “to tell the truth, all of the truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I swear.” The book is placed to the side and the lawyer starts her questioning. 

“What is your name, for the record?”

“Michelle Elizabeth Jones.”

“And your age?”

“Seventeen years old.”

“What school do you go to and what role do you hold at Stark Industries?”

“I am a student at Midtown High School and work as Miss Potts’ personal intern.”

“Thank you. We will first go through Mr. Thomson’s questions, then Miss Purl’s. What kind of relationship would you say Peter Parker and Eugene Thomson have in school?”

“Eugene bullies Peter in school a lot, so not a good one.”

“How often would you say is a lot, in this case?”

“Eugene and his fake friends will usually bully Peter continuously from the moment he walks into school to the moment he leaves, unless a teacher or adult is around.”

“And what exactly is his bullying?”

“It’s mostly verbal, though he has shoved Peter into lockers, pushed him to the ground, tripped him, and stolen his chair right before he sits so Peter falls to the ground.”

“And what happened while in the Stark Tower?”

“On the property, or the entire field trip?”

“While on the grounds of Stark Tower.”

“In the lobby he accused Peter along with myself and Ned Leeds of stealing badges we hold, in the Hero Room he knocked Peter to the ground from behind him, while in Lab 48 Color Purple he copied two other students’ work and tried to pass it of as his own, in Lab 67 Color Green he said the employees inside should be dead, while talking with Thor and Loki he implied that being pansexual was bad and accused Loki of being wrong for being abused, causing Loki to go into a PTSD panic attack. After that he had a review of the rules we have in place, that had been in the NDA which he had signed. Later, in the Avengers’ Gym, he yelled transphobic, homophobic, sexist, biphobic, and anti-genderfluid remarks to insult Peter, Harley Keener, myself, Loki, and Ned Leeds, while also insulting Ned’s weight and interests and dead naming Peter. It was at that time that security was called and he was taken away.”

“Thank you. Now, as for Ms Purl, what kind of relationship would you say she has with Peter?”

“She’s our teacher, but she’s always had it out for him, misgendering him in class and insulting him, handing out punishments he didn’t deserve.”

“I see. And has she done this to other students?”

“Yes.”

“What can be said about what Ms Purl did on the grounds of Stark Tower?”

“She misgendered Peter multiple times in the lobby even after knowing that he uses he/him pronouns for years, called him, Ned Leeds, and myself troublemakers even though you can see on our records that none of us have done disruptive things. We’ve gone to detention, but for being late, not disruptive actions. After that, she misgendered him in the Hero Room and threatened to give him a detention for talking with us even though Harley wasn’t talking, in Lab 48 Color Purple she accused one of the employees of being a liar, called Loki a criminal and told Thor to arrest him, and on Red Level 1 she misgendered Peter, yelled sexuality-phobic and transphobic words, dead named him, then slapped him across the face, causing Peter to go into shock, what we think was a panic attack, and dislocate for a couple hours.”

Peter clutching at Harley’s hand like a lifeline, and Harley takes the pause in the questioning to wrap an arm around Peter’s shoulders and press a kiss to his cheek, trying to convey through physical touches that he’s here and not in the past. 

“Thank Miss, no more questions, Judge.” The lawyer sits down and Eugene’s lawyer stands up.

“You say my client Eugene Thomson has been bullying Peter for years, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Why haven’t he or you or any of your friends reported him?”

MJ laughs. “Oh we have. He got a detention or two, but that never stopped Eugene, and let’s be real, he’s rich. You really think the school would expel or do anything worse to a student whose parents are high paying? Yeah right.”

The lawyer asks their next question, giving away nothing. “You mentioned that Mr. Thomson accused you and your friends of stealing badges. Now, he didn’t know of your internship, isn't that a reasonable assumption to make if he didn’t know?”

“What are you talking about?!” MJ says, outraged. “Of fu-”

“Please refrain from cursing in my courtroom,” the judge says, “the transcript gets muddled.”

“I apologize Your Honor,” MJ says. “To answer your question, Peter has stated that he has an internship at Stark Industries many times to the denial of Eugene. I on the other hand have never said a word because no one asked and frankly, after seeing what Eugene says to Peter, have no taste to have that directed at me as well.”

“Still, it is a bit hard to believe that a high school student could get an internship at Stark Industries.”

“Oh yeah I agree, except Peter has had a model of the newest Stark Phone months before the general public, has pictures-without any secrets revealed-of him at the internship, and is the type of person who would never lie unless it was for a prank or a truly good reason.”

“Right. No more questions.”

The second lawyer, the one for Ms Purl stands up. “Mich-”

“That’s Miss Jones to you.”

The lawyer is visibly pissed and Harley smirks. Only MJ could be so poised and professional while calling people out. “Apologies, Miss Jones. Now, you mentioned that my client, Ms Purl, has ‘always had it out for Peter’. If that is the case, why have you never said anything?”

“I have. If you check the school records, Peter along with others have all filed out reports against her for misgendering and teaching with a homophobic view, however due to a contract she has with the school and the fact that there are no rules about homophopbic behaviors, she hasn’t been fired yet.”

“And how would you know about the contract?”

“I asked and asked and threatened to take it up on Twitter until they told me that they couldn’t fire her even if they wanted it to.”

“So you confess to threatening information from the school.”

“I _confess_ to asking the school for a real reason as to why they weren’t firing a teacher who has been emotionally hurting my friend and others, and they eventually told me.”

“If you and others have complained, why didn’t you request to be moved to a new class?”

“Because her class is required for all students and the only other teacher who teaches it already has a full class, he can’t take anymore.”

“And how do you know this?”

“Well first, they tell us exactly what classes are required and what aren’t, and second I did request to be moved, so did Peter and Ned and many others. We were denied, told upfront that there wasn’t any room for more students.”

The lawyer looks like they’re trying to keep it together but is failing miserably. “No more questions Your Honor.”

Judge Crofter inclines his head. “Miss Jones, you may return to your seat. Prosecution, your next witness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has commented a ship, chimed in with their thoughts about a Flash redemption arc, and/or has mentioned a character or characters they want to see again! One thing before you click off!
> 
> Only one person commented a ship that included Tony and another commented about Morgan or a character like Morgan, and I just wanted to know what y’all want to see in regards to Tony and Pepper. Do you want them together? Do you want each of them to be with someone else? Do you want them to just stay single? I’m curious and want to know your thoughts because I seriously aren’t sure where I want to go with them and want your opinions. 
> 
> To the two people who did those two comments, this is by no means a dismal of your suggestions, nor does it guarantee them. I will be considering your thoughts along with everyone else’s and this does not place them higher or lower than anyone else’s.


	14. No Lies Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki steals the spotlight because he’s a dramatic icon

Their lawyers call up Loki to the stand. He walks up and takes his place as if he’s in control, which is true Peter guesses. Loki is beholden to no one, that’s more than obvious. 

He summons a book with a worn leather cover and runes embossed in gold all over it. 

“What exactly is that?” Flash’s lawyer asks.

“This,” Loki says holding up the book with reverence Peter rarely sees from the god, “is the master text of mages.”

The lawyer waits to be told why it had been summoned but Loki doesn’t say anything else. “And why has it been summoned?”

Peter can hear his sigh before he answers. “Simple mortal, I am not of a religion, nor am I tied to your laws and supposed justice system.” Some of the lawyers make offended noises that just make Loki smirk. “However, I respect the text of the mages therefore I will swear on it to appease your silly rituals.”

Harley shakes with silent laughter next to Peter and he can’t help but want to join him. The judge remains stone faced as he says, “Very well. Do you swear to tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I swear.”

“What is your name, for the record?”

“Loki of Asgard, King of Asgard, Friggason, rightful King of Jotunheim, and God of Mischief.”

Huh, Loki’s abandoned the title of Odinson. That’s new.

“And your age?”

“A thousand fifty-four years.”

“What does that translate in human years?”

“In your Migardian years?” He hums. “Let’s see, your average lifespan is about a hundred so-”

Judge Crofter coughs. “It’s seventy-nine years, statistically.” 

Loki huffs. “If it were by a hundred I’d be about twenty-one, if it were by your actual ages then on the late end of sixteen.”

Peter blinks. Loki was really only that young? He’d always placed Loki at around twenty-five, but sixteen at the youngest? That put him at a couple months older than Loki. The Snap happened in April, and the Reverse Snap in September, so Peter had turned seventeen in the Soul Stone. Where did that place Loki’s birthday?

“Occupation?”

“King of Asgard, God of Mischief, Grand Mage of the Nine Realms, take your pick.”

“Thank you. Same as with Miss Jones, Mr. Thomson’s questions will be asked, and then Miss Purl. How do you know Mr. Parker?”

Oh shit. He met Loki after getting shot and getting stuck on the couch until Tony let him leave. Loki had wandered in with a book Peter had read and they had talked about it and other books they’d both read until Tony burst in worried about Peter’s safety. Is he going to lie under oath?

“His internship of course.”

Well that’s good enough.

“Isn’t it with Mr. Stark though? Why does he interact with you?”

Shit.

“He’s Stark’s personal intern, he helps with weapons, comms, and such.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Loki rolls his eyes and Peter has to resist from laughing slightly hysterically. “Peter was working when I came in to get my comm fixed, as it was not working after our latest battle. He fixed it and we got to talking. The friendship grew from there.”

Thank god. Gods? 

“Right. Did you know of Mr. Thomson before this?”

“I knew Peter was being bullied by a student but wasn’t given a name.”

“Why not?”

“They thought I would kill him.”

Peter sighs with Harley. “Here we go,” Harley whispers under his breath. 

“And would you have?”

“We are so dead,” Peter whispers back.

Loki grins and leans forward. Peter knows he’s intimidating the lawyer and everyone watching on purpose, which just adds to his words. “I live in an eye for an eye society, you hurt a friend I hurt you. If I could have I would have.”

Judge Crofters, unaffected, says after a moment, “Continue the questioning.”

Jumping, the lawyer does. “What did you see happen while around Mr. Thomson?”

“Well first,” Loki starts, leaning back and filing his nails, “he called being pan wrong, which it isn’t, especially on Asgard, and heavily implied that being abused made me less than worthy of life, which triggered my PTSD from my abusive childhood. Afterwards in the gym he insulted Peter, MJ, myself, Ned, and Harley with very homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, sexist, and body shaming words along with dead naming Peter.”

He can feel his grip tighten on Harley’s hand, can feel Harley leaning closer to him. “You okay darling? We can leave if you want?”

In the background he can hear the lawyer ask Loki something and Loki snarking them back, but it’s all he can do to take deep breaths and push back the panic and terror building in his body. Once he has his breath under control, he whispers back to his boyfriend, “I’ll be okay.” He knows Harley won’t believe him, but he also knows he won’t push it yet.

“Thank you. Now as for Miss Purl, did you know of her before this?”

“Same as with Mr. Thomson, yes. I knew there was a teacher mistreating him but was not told who.”

“For the same reason?”

“Yes.” Peter can see his eyes glinting with that urge to murder and is almost worried for the two people across the aisle from him now. Almost.

“What did she do to you or in front of you?”

“She called me a criminal even though I’ve been cleared for two years now, I was out of the room or not here for the other….  _ things _ she did.”

“No more questions Your Honor.”

Flash’s lawyer stands up. “You admit that you wanted my client dead?”

“Who said I stopped?”

The lawyer pauses, then continues. “Answer the question please.”

Rolling his eyes, Loki says, “Yes yes, I want Eugene dead. However I would be satisfied with jail time or something of equal value as your justice is quite.... injustice compared to my justice.”

“As for what Mr. Thomson said to you, why did it trigger you?”

Loki freezes, and Peter can’t pinpoint the moment he slips an illusion over himself, but he knows it’s there. The illusion disappears the file and sits up, perfect posture. “He said and I quote, ‘ and you,’ he pointed at myself, ‘an abused person. Why’s that? Why aren’t you normal?’ end quote. The last part is something my abusers would say to me all the time, to prompt me to act more how they wanted me to.”

“Abusers, plural?”

“Irrelevant to the case,” Judge Crofter orders sharply.

“Apologies Your Honor. Do we have any confirmation that what he said was what you say?”

Loki scoffs. “There are recordings, so yes.”

“Then let’s hear them.” 

The judge calls in an intern. They come in with a speaker and fiddle with something then stands back as the recording plays. Peter notices that they have blonde hair, tealish-blue eyes, and is taking in the room when their eyes land on Loki and their pupils widen in what Peter guesses to be shock.

Eventually the record ends. “Thank you Harper, that will be all,” the judge says. They nod and start to take it out when the lawyer stops them.

“Not so fast, I want to hear what was said before that.”

Harper sighs and moves the speaker back, fiddling with it some more before it starts playing. Once it’s done, they ask, “Is that it?”

“Yes thank you.” They walk out with the speaker after no more comments, shutting the doors behind them. “No more questions.”

Ms Purl’s lawyer stands up.  “How close would you say you are to Peter Parker?”

“I would call him my younger brother, much better than that oaf Thor.”

“And what about others? Miss Jones, Mr. Leeds, Mr. Keener?”

“MJ is a good friend, she’s definitely going to take over the world in a few years.” Peter can see MJ sit just a bit taller and knows she’s smirking. “Ned is also a friend, and Harley is going to be my future brother-in-law if he can work up the nerve someday.”

Harley laughs in the silence after the question.

“So there is no...  _ other  _ intentions with any of them?”

Loki blanches and growls, “That is absolutely disgusting! Never! They are children!” while Peter and the others gag. “Your Honor that’s not even connected to the case!”

“I agree, that was uncalled for.”

“Apologies Your Honor. Now Lok-”

“It’s Your Majesty to you mortal,” Loki snaps.

Harley whispers under his breath, “Go off bro, go  _ off _ .”

The lawyer sputters but eventually continues, saying, “Right well um, Your Majesty, why do you want my client dead?”

“Because she hurt my brother.” He leans in close, an unhinged grin on his face. “And no one,” he’s halfway out of his chair by now, “hurts my brother.”

“No,” the lawyer gulps, “no more questions Your Honor.” They retreat back to their table quickly. 

A young intern opens the door and steps in, moving quickly to approach the judge. They look nervous, glancing around a lot. “What is it Kess?” Judge Crofter asks.

Kess goes up as close as they can to the judge’s seat and whispers, but of course Peter hears it anyway, “A man named Virgil called? He said it was urgent, told me to tell you that everyone was trying to adopt cats and won’t listen to him?”

The judge shoots up. “We will go for a short fifteen minute recess, no one may leave the courthouse,” he orders before flying out of the room with the intern trailing him. 

“What was that about?” Harley wonders out loud.

Peter shrugs. “Who knows, something about cats.” He cuddles up into Harley’s side while his boyfriend wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“Well aren’t you two disgustingly cute?” MJ’s voice says as she approaches.

“Just like you and Shuri’s ‘marry me’ eyes the first time you met?” Ned teases.

“She- I- no!” MJ denies, blushing.

“Aww c’mon MJ,” Harley insists, “we all know you like her.” 

“Yeah,” Peter chimes in, “that was a bi panic if I ever saw it.” They all look at Peter. “What?”

“Darling you had the most bi panic of us all,” Harley says.

He’s about to protest when MJ adds, “When you met Harley?”

Flashes of memories of Harley’s face paired with that southern drawl and Peter not hearing a thing he was saying because he was blushing too hard zip through Peter’s mind at that.

“Never mind, good point.”

The group shares a laugh before Loki flops into the seat next to Peter. “I hate,” he says summoning a wine glass already full of wine, “trials,” he takes a sip, “courts,” another sip, “and mortals.” And with that he drinks the rest of the wine in one go, snapping his finger to refill it.

“All of us?” Harley asks disbelievingly. 

“There is no way you hate Peter,” Ned says.

“It’s impossible to hate Peter,” MJ adds.

Loki holds up one finger and takes a sip, then says, “I hate all mortals but Peter and maybe you three.”

“Aww thanks witch,” Peter giggles.

Loki sighs. “See what I must put up with? Yet, we all love him.”

The others nod in agreement and Peter fake gaps. “Treason!” 

“Revolution,” they all monotone.

“Yeah yeah break it up kids,” Tony snarks, coming up with two cup holders full of drinks. “I got you heathens coffee.”

“Yesssssssssss,” Ned and Peter say.

“Gimme the bean water,” MJ and Loki chant.

“My will to live has been founddddddd.” Harley makes grabby hands at Tony who is backing away in terror.

“Are you guys possessed?” he asks as he looks at them weird.

They look at each other then Tony. “Possibly.”

He sighs but hands them the coffee anyway. “It’s Starbucks, I had Happy get us your regular order.”

“Yesss it’s black like my soul,” Loki celebrates as he disappears the wine in exchange for the coffee.

“Here here!” they cheer, clinking styrofoam cups. 

Tony shakes his head and walks away, muttering under his breath about kids these days and why did he adopt so many.

“So Tony thinks he adopted us,” Peter comments, sipping his sugary coffee.

“I mean he’s not wrong,” Harley says.

“Yeah everyone with the Avengers are basically his kids,” MJ adds.

“The parenting gene is strong in him,” Ned agrees, blowing on his coffee to cool it. “By the way how did he know all our drink orders?”

“Edith and Friday,” Peter explains.

“Edith is still up?” Loki asks, perplexed. “I thought Stark let Friday take over for her.”

“Well Edith is still in charge of that, but Friday over sees her and double checks everything she does for security reasons.”

“Makes sense.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: Harper and Kess are the winners of ‘who was the character from another fandom’! And I was shocked when so many of you knew Logan!! Glad to know I’m not alone in the Sanders Sides fandom!
> 
> Second: I’m sorry, but this is an official no to Ironfrost. The way I have this planned out it just won’t work, plus after calculating the ages for everyone (which took a lot of research and post-it notes) it would be too big of an age gap if you look at it in human age groups. Loki is, depending on the average human age you take, between 16-21 and Tony is in his late forties. 
> 
> Third: so far what I’ve heard for ships is this: Ironstrange, Pepper/Happy, Pepper/Valkyrie. Unless a new ship pops up, Ironstrange seems to be the likely ship. As for Pepper, you decide. And remember, she can be single too! I’m just asking to get your opinions.
> 
> Fourth: I have a notebook for this fic to keep everything together and even that is being put together as I make it up. If you have any questions relating to sexualities of characters, who’s alive and who’s dead, and what exactly happened in Infinity War and Endgame, go ahead and comment. I’ll answer to the best of my abilities. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the kudos, comments, and reading this!!! It warms my heart so much to see my inbox overflowing with comments after posting a new chapter, so please never stop!


	15. Hold It Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grab the tissues, it's.... it's a lot.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: PTSD, past panic attacks, past disassociating, past suicidal thoughts, f slur.
> 
> I don’t know if that’s all of it, but expect everything that’s come up in past chapters to pop up here. It’s.... hard to read so I understand if you can’t make it through. Leave a comment with where you stopped and I’ll sum it up from there for you.

They sit and drink their coffee, chatting a bit.

“Back to the topic of MJ and Shuri, you need to ask her out,” Ned says.

“I can’t!” MJ protests.

“Sure you can,” Peter replies. “You go up to her, and ask her to go on a date with you.”

“No I mean, she has that secret crush that she’s going to ask soon.”

They groan in unison. “That’s right she does,” Harley grumbles.

Loki sighs. “There’s nothing we can do then, until we find out who the girl is.”

“I know,” MJ says miserably. 

Changing topics, they move to their plan for a prank war on the adult Avengers. Obviously they as the teens (plus Wanda, Shuri, and Groot if he shows up) are one group. They may let Vision in, on the fact that he’s like, 3 in actual years but refers to himself as 21. What matters is trying to plan for who will group up with who. Couples will, but so far Bucky and Steve are the only ones besides Wanda and Vision and Peter and Harley dating so that doesn’t help much. Nat and Clint probably will, but they could also go solo and attack each other. They know Tony, Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper will combine forces, and Sam will probably join Steve and Bucky, but it’s really up to chance on the others. 

“We’re not pranking Bruce though, right?” Ned checks.

“Oh yeah, we’re letting the poor guy off the hook,” Harley agrees.

“He puts up with Stark, so I agree that we won’t do any serious pranks on him,” Loki adds.

“Any serious pranks?” Peter asks, unimpressed.

Loki had struck up a friendship of sorts with Bruce, so he knows Loki knows Bruce’s limits, but still.

“Fiiiiiine, no serious or harmful pranks for Bruce.”

“Thank you.”

“Whatever peasant.”

Peter dramatically gasps. “How _dare_ you!?”

After the break, Judge Crofter returns and asks for their lawyers to call up the next witness. Peter takes a shaky breath and then he’s called up.

He can feel the memories pounding in his head, begging to be watched and relieved, over and over and over again until they drag him down into the depths of his mind and drowns in all the pain he finds there.

“You can do this,” Harley whispers, hugging him. That touch grounds, him, pulls him out of his spiral. Peter nods to his boyfriend and walks up.

He sits down in the chair. Not looking up to see the faces of his family and friends, he places his hand on the book of law. It’s thicker than he thought, and the cover is leather, colder than the room’s temperature somehow. Peter focuses on the feeling of it under his palm, uses the cold to ground himself and pay attention to what the judge is saying.

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth?” the judge asks.

“Yes.” 

His lawyer stands up, Peter can see them out of the corner of his eye. He doesn’t look up though, he keeps his eyes on the wood in front of him, focuses on that and not the memories begging to be let out.

“What is your name, for the record?”

“Peter Benjamin Parker.” 

“And your age?”

“Seventeen years old.” Thank you Thanos, not only did he miss out on five months of his life and forced him to take make-up classes for the roughly two months and change days of school he missed, he also missed his seventeenth birthday. Fun times.

“What school do you go to and what role do you hold at Stark Industries?”

“I go to Midtown High School and work as a personal intern to Tony Stark.”

Technically not a lie, he does work as his intern. He just also is Spider-Man.

“Thank you. Same as with His Majesty,” Peter looks up sharply to stare at Loki, who is now smirking gleefully, “Mr. Thomson’s questions will be asked, and then Miss Purl. Does Eugene Thomson bully you?”

“Yes.”

“Can you give us some examples?”

The memories are starting a headache, but he forces them back. Deep breaths, then he answers. “He shoves me into lockers, knocks my books out of my hands, pushes me to the ground, and has taken my chair from me. He also verbally insults me most of the time.”

“And what happened while in the Stark Tower?”

Deep. Breaths.

“Well, in the lobby he accused me, Mj, and Ned of stealing badges we do hold, in the Hero Room he knocked me to the ground from behind,” he pauses a second to push back the memories of falling to the ground as his body turns to dust, “in Lab 67 Color Green he said the employees inside should be dead,” thoughts he’s had too many times to count, “—and some have been or are suidical so they had to take the day off to calm down—, while talking with Thor and Loki he implied that being pansexual was bad and accused Loki of being wrong for being abused, causing Loki to go into a PTSD attack.” He can feel his finger nails digging into his palms to ground himself in the now and not memories of his own attacks, “After that, in the Avengers’ Gym, he yelled a bunch of transphobic, homophobic, sexist, and really just anti-LGBTQIA+ remarks to insult myself, Harley, MJ, Loki, and Ned,” push those tears back, “while also insulting Ned’s weight and interests and-” he pauses, takes more deep breathes, pushing the memories away, trying to lessen his nail-digging just so he doesn’t break through the skin, “and he dead named me. Then security was called and he was taken away.” He immediately starts regulating his breathing, in for four, hold for seven, out of eight, pretend everything’s fine.

“Thank you Peter. Would you say that the testimonies we’ve heard so far are true?”

“Yes I would.”

The lawyer nods. “Is there anything you’d like to add?”

“No.” _Please, please end it soon. Please,_ he begs silently, glancing up to see Harley and Ned’s worried faces, MJ and Loki in their stone masks.

“Alright, we’ll move on to Ms. Purl’s questions. What relationship would you say you and her have?”

“Well she’s my teacher, but she also has been misgendering me all year and insulting me when she can, so I’d say it’s not very good.” _No shit._

“Miss Jones mentioned that you were handed out unfair and unearned punishments by Ms. Purl, is this true?”

“I uh, I’d say that from my perspective yes, however I’m not in the best position to give an unbiased opinion,” he nervously laughs, trying to keep it together. And resisting the urge to run his fingers through his hair to keep him grounded because his nails in his palms are not doing it for him.

“Understandable. What did she do while at Stark Industries?”

“Um well, she mis-” he has to pause to force the memories from overwhelming him, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and taking deep breaths before restarting. “She misgendered me in the lobby a couple times, called me, Ned, and MJ troublemakers even though we’ve done nothing to warrant being called that, and in the Hero Room threatened to give me detention for talking, even though Harley wasn’t even talking. In Lab 48 Color Purple she accused one of the employees of being a liar, called Loki a criminal and demanded his arrest. And on Red Level 1 she-” he takes a deep, shuddering breath, the first since he restarted, “she purposefully misgendered and dead named me, yelled transphobic and anti-LGBTQIA+ language, then slapped me. I- after that I- I blanked out for a while, I don’t really know what happened after that.”

“Thank you Peter, no more questions.” 

He releases a shuddering breath, starting up his breathing exercises in the small amount of time he’s been given.

The lawyer sits down and Flash’s lawyer stands up, his blank face scaring Peter, knowing he won’t show any mercy. 

“Before we continue, Mr. Parker do you need a minute?” the judge asks in a rare show of emotion. From what Peter’s gathered about him, he’s not one to show off his emotions, leading to the small amount of concern that has leaked into the judge’s face all the more stunning.

His breathing is semi-regular, and his headache is receding slightly. He won’t feel any better until he can leave. “No, they can continue their questioning.” He dares to make eye contact with others, taking deep, calming breaths. 

“Very well. Continue.”

Flash’s lawyer nods. “Mr. Parker, is there not a possibility that my client is having a hard time adjusting to your new gender? This must be so sudden to him-”

“I came out as male freshmen year. We’re juniors now. I’d hardly call that a ‘sudden’,” Peter snaps, gripping his hands tightly in his lap.

“Ah yes but the surgeries-” They did not just go there.

“I got the surgeries two years after my mental health evaluation. I got that evaluation before eighth grade graduation, and have been monitored since then. The surgeries were a couple months before the Snap. Besides, surgery or no surgery, I've been using male pronouns since freshman year, he’s had plenty of time to adjust.”

He can see MJ and Loki from here and they’re beaming, actually beaming, with pride and he can’t help but give them a small smile back. He can do this, just a bit more to get through.

Changing tactics, the lawyer says, “Are you sure my client just didn’t understand the severity of dead naming you? He must-”

Flash smirking when Peter took a step back, the satisfied smile on his face when he saw that the name hurt Peter.

“He knew what he was doing.” He knows his voice is dark, darker than it normally is, but that memory haunts him and he can’t force back the haunted sound his voice holds.

“From your perspective-”

“I can prove it right now,” Peter cuts him off, standing up. “Karen, roll the clip please.” 

His AI’s normally soothing voice is almost gleefully vengeful when it fills the room. “With pleasure Peter,” she says, before a hologram pops out of his glasses and is projected into the empty space in front of him, allowing everyone to see it. It being Flash on his angry rant of sickening words.

Karen pauses it after the Flash in the video yells, “A boy, really? And not just a boy, but a faggoted boy too,” and turns off the hologram.

“So you see,” Peter says quietly, but loud enough to be heard in the dead silent room, still standing, “he did mean it. Every last word.”

The lawyer exhales. “No more questions Your Honor.” They and Peter sit down, he can hear his breath echoing slighting in his ears.

Ms Purl’s lawyer stands up, fidgeting with their sleeves. “Mr. Parker, why exactly do you not know what happened after my client supposedly slapped you?”

“First off, she did slap me. And second off, I was not prepared for physical abuse and due to PTSD I have along with heightened anxiety, it triggered me and caused me to disassociate for hours.” Hours he was out of it, vulnerable. His boyfriend and Wanda kept him safe, watched out for him.

“You have PTSD?”

“Yes.” His answer is clipped, cold, and he can’t summon the will to care.

“From what?”

“Irrelevant Your Honor,” MJ growls clearly, standing up, cold anger burning in her eyes.

“Agreed,” Judge Crofter rules.

“Apologies Your Honor. What proof do we have-?”

“Karen?” That’s all he needs to say for his AI to know what she needs to do.

“Gladly Peter.” With that, Karen again projects a video, however this time it’s of Ms Purl screaming 

“-that smirk on you face, don’t pretend to be dumb Parker! You’re smirking at me because you think you’ve won!”

Video Peter looks terrified and confused as he says, “I’m not playing dumb I seriously don’t understand what you’re sa-” but is cut off when Ms Purl’s hand slaps Peter’s cheek.

Karen pauses the video, letting it stay there, the image of Peter with a bright, shining red handprint on his cheek hovering in front of them all for a few seconds, enough to let it sink in and burn itself into their memories. Then she turns off the projection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of research as to how and what needs to be done for someone to receive the proper surgeries (I understand if I made a mistake, feel free to correct me/my information and do not take my words for the truth, do your own research), and so had to cement what and when Peter realized he was trans. Here's the basic thing: Peter was having a lot of dysphoria in seventh and eighth grade, and so talked to his doctor about it. Before eighth grade graduation, he had a mental evaluation to see if he showed the signs. He did and so was prescribed T, which he started the summer before freshmen year. Aunt May had his name changed with the school and eventually, middle of the school year, was able to change his name. Then, after the spider bite, the T started not working as well (boo enhanced bodies) and when Tony found out about Peter he and Helen Cho helped create T that would work the same way T is supposed to on non-enhanced people. Later, after two years of T (the minimum time allowed) Tony helped pay for Helen Cho to do the surgery, as normal surgeries wouldn't work on Peter due to his enhancements. 
> 
> Also I did the math and Peter, MJ, and Ned are juniors so yeah, 16/17 years old. Wanda is around 20 and Vision is technically 3 but presents as 21 due to his vast knowledge and the Stone.
> 
> Next week I'll give you everyone else's ages, because I calculated this stuff for some reason.


	16. When In Doubt, Sass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We’re doubling up because we’re getting close to the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we start I just have to say: thank you thank you thank you!!! This has, as of August 11 posting, 1,034 kudos and 20,777 hits. 
> 
> Oh.  
> My.  
> Gods.
> 
> I never dreamed this could get there!! This is incredible, so thank you so much everyone!!!

“No more questions,” Purl’s lawyer whispers in the dead silence, slinking back to their seat. 

If Loki had to stab his empty coffee cup under an illusion to keep from stabbing Ms Purl, well that’s no one’s business but his own.

The judge coughs to bring everyone to attention. “Anymore witnesses?”

Stark’s lawyer calls up Ned. The nervous child walks up, standing strong just like he instructed him to be, and swears on the Bible Midgardians seem to be so obsessed over. “Can you state your name?”

“Edward Grant Leeds.”

“Age?”

“Sixteen years old.”

“What school do you go to and what role do you hold at Stark Industries?”

“I go to Midtown High School and I don’t hold a role really, I just help out sometimes.” ‘Just helps out’, Loki almost scoffs. Ned is a genius, he and Bruce work so well together and the lab people love him. Wait till Ned finds out he’s Bruce’s heir once he retires.

“Thank you. Just like the others, you will be asked questions about Mr. Thomson and then Miss Purl. Does Mr. Thomson bully Mr. Parker?”

“Yes.”

“What has he done?”

“He’s shoved Peter around, knocked his books out of his hands, and like the others have said, has taken Peter’s chair from him. Most of it’s insults and mean names.” But oh how easily verbal taunts get inside heads, sticking their barbs into people and creating chaos mentally. Slowly destroying them from the inside out. It’s Loki’s specialty, he takes great pride in the pain he can cause with it, but he hates to think of Peter having that done to him. The cinnamon roll is too innocent and young for that to be done, especially by others just as young as him.

“And what happened while in the Stark Tower?”

He can see Ned take a deep breath. “Well,” he starts off nervously, “in the lobby he accused me, MJ, and Peter of stealing badges even though they are ours, while in the Hero Room he knocked into Peter from behind causing Peter to fall to the ground, um in Lab 67 Color Green he said the employees inside should be dead and like Peter and MJ have said many of them have been or are suicidal,” Loki’s forgotten how many times he’s felt the same, “which broke the rules they have at SI about it being a safe place, and while talking with Thor and Loki he implied that being pansexual was bad and accused Loki of being wrong for being abused, causing Loki to go into a PTSD attack.” He can feel the icy memories wash up against the shores of his mind, but he pushes them back. _Not now_ , he whispers to them. “And uh, after that, in the Avengers’ Gym, he yelled a bunch of transphobic, homophobic, sexist, and really just anti-LGBT+ remarks to insult Peter, Harley, MJ, Loki, and myself, while also insulting my weight and- and interests,” he can see the struggle Ned’s having, he knows how much battles Ned has internally with his body shape and pushing past his society’s views on hobbies, “and he dead named Peter. Then security was called and he was taken away.”

“Thank you Mr. Leeds. Would you say that the testimonies we’ve heard so far are true?”

“Yes I would.”

“Would you like to add anything else?”

“Yeah, after Flash was taken away, Peter had an attack.”

“Ah, thank you Mr. Leeds. We’ll move on to Ms. Purl’s questions. What relationship would you say she and Peter have?”

“Technically they have a teacher and student relationship, but she hates him so much and constantly picks on him with her power as a teacher.” Abuse of power, it’s always the same. No matter where one goes, what one does, it’s always there. And using it over children? The very thought shakes him to his core and he knows Peter notices his slight shudder.

“Miss Jones mentioned that Mr. Parker was handed out unfair and unearned punishments by Ms. Purl, what do you say about that?”

“I say it’s true.”

“What did she do while at Stark Industries?”

He can see Ned taking a deep breath and looking over at the group before answering. “She misgendered Peter in the lobby a couple times, called me, Peter, and MJ troublemakers even though we’ve done nothing to deserve that, in the Hero Room she threatened to give Peter a detention for talking, even though Harley wasn’t even talking. In Lab 48 Color Purple she accused one of the employees of being a liar and called Loki a criminal and demanded his arrest. And I don’t know exactly what happened on Red Level 1 but I know when we pulled Peter out of the room he wouldn’t talk and didn’t seem to hear us.”

“Is there anything you would like to add?”

“No.”

“Thank you Mr. Leeds.” The lawyer sits down and Eugene’s lawyer stands up. Their face is stone cold, though Loki knows they’ve given up any hope of getting their client out of this. It’s written in their face, the way they hold themselves, every movement and detail betrays them. He knows they’ll try to get him off on lighter charges, but he also knows they’ll fail at that too.

“Mr. Leeds, is there a possibility that my client didn’t know how badly his actions hurt Mr. Parker?”

“No, you saw the video clip, he knew exactly what he was doing to Peter.” Ned’s tone is harsh, very different from the boy’s usual tone that it almost seems out of place.

Loki smirks as the lawyer bites his lip, no doubt trying to find out what he could ask to portray Eugene in better light. “No more questions,” they say, sitting down. An older man who is probably Eugene’s father leans over and harshly whispers in the lawyer’s ear. He briefly considers listening in, but from the looks of it chalks the talk to just a rich man yelling at someone and pays no mind.

Purl’s lawyer, a young thing who no doubt has little experience and is homophobic, stands up. “Edward-”

“We’re not friends,” Ned interrupts. “Call me by my last name.”

Loki has to fight the urge to clap. He’s taught Ned well. The lawyer swallows awkwardly and continues. “Right well, Mr. Leeds, what’s your relationship like with my client?”

“She’s my teacher, she hates my best friend, we don’t get along.” Ned’s response is short, to the point. It really conveys how much he’s fed up with this and while at other times Loki would feel bad for him to show his emotions, in this case he’s proud because he’s telling the lawyer he’s not putting up with their bullshit. 

“What about her relationship with fellow students? Students not friends with Mr. Parker?”

“Bad as well. No one likes her, and the feeling’s mutual from what we see.”

The lawyer gulps, most likely from the way their attempt to isolate Ned and the others from the other students backfiring. Having reached no other outlets, they stop their turn and sit down.

“Next witness?” the judge asks.

Harley stands up, leaving Peter and their group to go to the front. Loki drops a hand to his knee, perfect for a teen to grab and hold in case he needs to. “Only three more questionings,” he whispers to Peter. He says nothing, but he does grab Loki’s hand and squeezes it. 

“Your name please?”

“Harley Ethan Keener.”

“Age?”

“I’m seventeen years old.”

“What school do you go to and what role do you hold at Stark Industries?”

“I go to MIT and am Tony’s other personal intern.” And the next Iron Man but the public doesn’t need to know that.

“Thank you. Just like the others, you will be asked questions about Mr. Thomson and then Miss Purl. What do you know of Mr. Thomson and his bullying of Mr. Parker?”

“I know from Peter, MJ, and Ned that he’s been bullying Peter for years, but because of college I haven’t been able to see any of it.” A three hour and thirty minute trip to his college and yet the boy still manages to be at the Tower what seems like always. 

“What did you hear from them?”

“The same as they’ve said here.”

“And what did you see happened in SI?”

“I was the tour guide so I didn’t see what happened in the lobby, but while we were in the Hero Room he knocked into Peter from behind, causing Peter to fall to the ground, and in Lab 67 Color Green he said the employees there should be dead. While talking with Thor and Loki he said that being pansexual was unnatural and accused Loki of being wrong for being abused, causing Loki to go into an attack.” Loki grits his teeth behind an illusion and forces back the memories, as this is neither the time nor the place. “After that, in the Avengers’ Gym, he yelled a bunch of transphobic, homophobic, sexist, and really just anti-LGBT+ remarks to insult Peter, Ned, MJ, Loki, and myself, while also insulting Ned’s weight interests, and he dead named Peter. Then security was called and he was taken away.” Harley’s delivery is smooth and cool, though Loki knows how much Harley wants to fight them, he admires the restraint Harley’s showing as of now.

“Thank you Mr. Keener. Would you say that the testimonies we’ve heard so far are true?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to add anything else?”

“No.”

“Alright, then we will move on to Miss Purl’s questions. What relationship would you say she and Peter have?”

“A bad one, I forget how many nights I’ve spent calming Peter down after her words stick in his head and cause him to doubt himself.” Emotions paint their way across Harley’s face, sorrow, regret, pain, anger, and most importantly the flicker of memories of late nights echoing in his eyes.

“What did she do while at Stark Industries?”

Harley looks over to Peter, who’s gripping Loki’s hand with a slowly increasing tightness that doesn’t bother him at all. The spiderling is barely using his enhanced strength currently, no doubt reflex at this point. “She misgendered Peter in the lobby a couple times, in the Hero Room she threatened to give Peter a detention for talking, even though I wasn’t even talking. In Lab 48 Color Purple she accused one of the employees of being a liar and called Loki a criminal and demanded his arrest. And I don’t know what happened on Red Level 1 at the time, I did see the footage afterwards, but I know when we pulled Peter out of the room he wouldn’t talk and didn’t seem to hear us. Me and Wanda spent hours on the couch just trying to ground him and bring him back from wherever he was.” Peter’s grip is tighter, but his eyes never leave Harley’s face. They truly love each other.

“Thank you. You said you saw the footage, was Mr. Parker’s testimony in line with the footage?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything you would like to add?”

“No.”

The lawyer nods and sits down. Eugene’s lawyer stands up and starts their questioning. “What is your relationship with Mr. Parker?” Loki snorts silently. As if they couldn’t tell already?

“We’re boyfriends.”

“How long ago did your relationship start?”

“Well in March we celebrated our first anniversary, so including the Snap’s months, it’s been a year and about five or six months.” 

“How did you two meet?”

“Oh we met a couple months before we started dating, through the old man-”

“Who?”

“Anthony Janthony Stank.” Loki has to force himself to not laugh at the ridiculously messed up name. 

“Not my name you punk!” Stark grumbles.

“Yeah yeah whatever old man.”

“I’m literally only forty-eight.”

“Shut up, it’s my turn to talk. Anyway, the old man introduced us and we kinda just clicked.”

“And did you know about his... gender identity?” the lawyer asks awkwardly.

“You mean how he’s trans? Yeah I knew, he told me before we started dating. What’s your point?” There’s heat in his words and Loki knows his temper is flaring up. He’s surprised it didn’t sooner. 

The lawyer blinks, thrown for a loop. “No more questions,” they say, giving up and sitting down.

Purl’s lawyer stands up next and opens their mouth to talk, but Harley cuts them off. “You can call me Mr. Keener or nothing.”

Loki smirks while Peter giggles next to him. A good sign if he’s ever seen one.

“Right yes well, Mr. Keener, are you sure the claims you’ve made against my client aren’t exaggerated? You got them from word of-”

“I got them from three different people for over a year. Trust me, they’re not exaggerated.”

The lawyer sighs. “No more questions.” They take their seat in defeat.

“The defense may now call upon their witnesses,” the judge declares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As far as I know Peter and Harley met at Tony’s funeral in canon, so for this they met a couple months before March of 2017. 
> 
> Also, I’ve made their anniversary day March 25th, any guesses why that date? :)


	17. Truth Be Told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash and Ms Purl's questioning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how short it is, there’s just not a lot that hasn’t already been said.

As with everything, Flash goes first, standing up and seating himself on the chair. He places his hand on the Bible. 

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I do.”

His lawyer stands up to question him. “Can you state your name for the record?”

“Eugene Willaim Thompson.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen years old.”

“What school do you go to?”

“Midtown High School.”

“Alright. Did anything the other witnesses say not happen?”

“Yes…?” Peter pales. Is he really doing to lie under oath? After all he’s done, he wants to add that to his list of crimes?

“What didn’t happen that they say did?”

“They said that I bully Peter-”

“You don’t get to say my name like you know me,” Peter interrupts, his anger like ice instead of it’s normal fire. “It’s Parker to you.” If Flash can’t bear to say his real name outside of a court, then he doesn’t get to say it inside a court. 

Flash visibly swallows nervously. He should be, after all. “Um... they said that I bullied Pe- Parker when that’s not true. I never bullied him.” Peter freezes in place. He dared…. 

“Objection,” their lawyer says. “That’s not true.”

“Do you have proof?” the judge asks.

Tony stands up. “Yes, I do. Baby girl, if you would?” 

“Gladly boss,” FRIDAY answers. Tony’s glasses project a hologram that FRIDAY usses to pull up a video feed of a security camera of the outside of the Tower, showing Flash yelling at Peter on the bus, then pushing him. The video changes to a feed of the lobby, showing Flash yell, shove, and laugh at Peter and his friends. Then it changes to the video feed of the Hero Room, showing the same, zooming in so you can clearly see Flash purposefully shove Peter to the ground. She does a highlight reel of the rest of the trip with Flash, showing all the times he pushed past, slammed into, or talked over Peter. 

He can’t look away, goosebumps running up his arms as he sees everything Flash did to him in his second home. Harley’s hand squeezes his own, reassuring him that Harley’s here, that he’s here for Peter. He takes a shaky breath and squeezes back. It’s going to be okay, he’s going to be okay. Soon enough, FRIDAY stops the videos and turns off the projection. 

“As you can see,” Tony says, breaching the silence that had encased the court, “he bullies Peter.”

After a minute of contemplation, the judge nods. “Agreed.” He turns to Flash who looks up guilty at him. “I would like to tell Mr. Thompson that lying under oath is a federal crime and can and will be punished with at least a year of prison time and fines. The exact amount will be determined by the court.” Flash is pale and looks absolutely terrified, and Peter can’t blame him. Judge Crofter is terrifying in a way you’d get if you mixed Loki on a bad day and a strict teacher together. But it is satisfying to see Flash scared, because he did lie under oath. “Continue the questioning.”

Flash’s lawyer clears his throat. Peter hopes they know their case is falling apart at the seams. “Right. When did you first meet Mr. Parker?”

“Uh, probably freshman year.” Ah yes, that horrible year.

“And how long have you known that Peter’s transgender?”

“Freshman year.” No really? It’s almost like Peter said the exact same thing when he was questioned- oh wait he did.

“Did Mr. Parker use male pronouns at the beginning or did that change?” Wow.

“I told you that already, asshole,” Peter mutters under his breath, Loki shaking with silent laughter after hearing him.

“He corrected the teachers on the first day, and used male pronouns from day one,” Flash admits. First day of high school, aka a living nightmare. But the teachers were understanding and caught on quickly. 

“No more questioning.”

Their lawyer stands up and begins. “If you’ve known since day one that Mr. Parker uses male pronouns, why disrespect that?”

“Uh... I mean, he’s trans...?” Peter almost stands up to start yelling at that, but Harley tugs him back before he could even get halfway out of his seat.

“So? He asked you to use his pronouns, and you use those pronouns right now, but you pick on and bully him, and went as far as to deadname him and misgender him at SI. What changed?” 

“Yesssssss, go _off_!” Loki hisses.

“I-... I don’t know.”

“Was it the fact that you got caught? The fact that here you are, in a court of law, in front of a judge and jury, that is making you respect his pronouns?”

“Oh _snap_ ,” Halrey mutters.

“That be the tea,” Loki whispers back. 

“I uh... no comment.” Peter has to fight the urge to boo, and from Harley’s face he guesses it’s the same for him. Loki’s is perfectly blank, as usual in a public place. 

“Fine, let’s move to a different topic. Why did you say all those things you did in the Avengers’ gym?”

“I- what?”

“You did hear the testimonies from witnesses, yes?” The amount of sass in this lawyer is incredible, and Peter notes in the back of his head to talk to them more because _damn_. He has got to befriend them.

“Yes,” Flash answers shamefully.

“Then, you know what you’ve been accused of saying, and you’ve seen the footage we have.”

“Yes.”

“Then, I repeat: Why did you say those things?”

“Because... because…” he’s struggling to get words, Peter can see it in his face. He’s curious though, what has been Flash’s reasoning all these years. “Because... I- I don’t know why I said those things, I just wanted to hurt them as much as possible!”

“Why hurt them?” their lawyer asks mercilessly. “What have they done to you? What do you hold against them?”

“I-I don’t- there isn’t-”

“Then why?! Why do that to them, if you have no reason? Why-”

“Because they’re happy and I’m not!” Flash yells, cutting off the lawyer. “Because they have parents or someone there for them, because they get people who care about them and they don’t have to go seeking for love of any kind through a screen!” He sits there, Peter can see tears in his eyes, before he deflates, sinking into the chair, not looking at anyone.

Peter feels all the air in his lungs leave in a rush. Everything clicks into place. He can understand from an observational point of view why Flash did the things he did. He lashed out at others because he was- is jealous of them. Peter knows he can’t forgive Flash for what he did, knows that it doesn’t excuse the things he did. But at least he understands now. At least he knows why.

“Thank you,” their lawyer says softly, demeanor changing from merciless to calm and comforting in a split second. It gives whiplash, how they went from one to another so quickly. “No more questions.”

Flash nods without looking at anyone and walks back to his seat, ignoring the man trying to talk to him. Peter guesses the man is Flash’s dad, judging by the way angry whispering is coming from him. He decides not to listen in on it, due to it looking very one-sided and honestly, the fact that he probably won’t like what he hears.

Ms Purl walks up and sits in the chair. She swears on the Bible, then her lawyer stands up. Peter almost wants to throw up upon seeing her, the cold contempt she holds for everyone flashing across her face. 

“Can you state your name?”

“Clare Viven Purl.”

“Age?”

“Forty-three years old.”

“Occupation?”

“Teacher at Midtown High School.”

“Thank you. Now, how would you describe Mr. Parker?” Creepy, very creepy.

“As a student?”

“Yes.”

“I’d say Parker is a very problematic student.” Now he has to hold Harley back from standing up and throwing hands. 

“How so?”

“Well, s- he,” Peter silently sighs at her almost misgendering him again, “tends to complete work quickly, too quickly in my opinion, and is always handing in homework done incorrectly.”

“As in his answers are incorrect?”

“No. Parker does the work in a different way than how I taught.” Yeah, because she teaches them the long way when there are shortcuts built in they could do! 

Her lawyer sighs and moves on. “Was there anything you’d like to say about the testomines we’ve heard today?”

“Yes. They claimed that I yelled at Parker, when I was simply informing him of the mistakes he’s made with this idea of being a male.” 

Loki growls next to Peter and he has to grab his wrist before he does something, like stab Ms Purl. Though he might not mind that...

“No more questions,” the lawyer says.

“Miss Purl, may I ask why Mr. Parker doing his work differently is problematic?” their lawyer asks, standing up.

“Well…” she sputters around, “because it’s not how I taught it!”

“So? Does he get the correct answers?”

“....yes.”

“Does he understand the material?”

“....yes…”

“Does he do well on the tests?”

“.......yes.”

“Then what is the issue?” 

“Asking the right questions,” Peter can hear MJ whisper under her breath. He can’t help but laugh silently at that.

“I-.... there isn’t one,” Ms Purl admits angrily. 

“Now, why do you consider misgendering and deadnaming Mr. Parker just, quote ‘simply informing him of the mistakes he’s made with this idea of being a male’?”

“Because that was what I was doing.”

“And what would you call the slap you gave him?” 

She pales at their words. “I-I was just making a point…”

“You physically hit a minor, your own student, after deadnaming and misgendering him while shaming him about his identity. Is that really just ‘making a point’?”

“Snap crackle pop that’s good,” he can hear Ned say.

“I-.....”

“Nothing to say?”

She nods her head numbly.

“Then let me ask just one more question. Why did you do it?”

“What?” She looks confused, which Peter can’t understand. She knows what she did. 

“Why did you do it? Why did you deadname Mr. Parker? Why did you yell at him? Why did you slap him?”

“I- no-”

“We all saw the video, Miss. You can’t deny it.” 

“I-I- just making a point…”

“I repeat, a minor that is your student and under your watch at Stark Industries.”

“I-.... no comment.”

The lawyer nods grimmly. “I thought so. No more questions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, real quick:  
> The way I wrote this may have been misleading so let me set the record correctly: your body parts do not define you. They do not define your gender or lack of gender, your gender is what you feel and not what your body says. If that is the same as your body, then good for you. If that isn’t the same as your body, your gender still valid. Peter was a boy long before he had surgeries, it just so happens that he has the surgeries now. 
> 
> This is a fic I started on a whim, and it’s grown. I acknowledge that I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past chapters, and when I finish this fic I will go back and fix them. But for now, this will have to make due. 
> 
> Stay safe everyone!


	18. The Sentence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know what this is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also let me say this: I wrote all of this in one day, starting at 8:30am, taking a break from 12 to 2:30pm, then finishing this up at 4pm. This is 2,000 words (six pages worth on my laptop) that have been written and edited on the same day. 
> 
> Oh and school starts next Tuesday for me, so I'll be spending the rest of this week to write up the next few chapters.

It’s deadly quiet as Ms Purl walks back to her seat. Harley squeezes his boyfriend’s hand. She was the last witness to be questioned, so now the jury and judge decides what to do.

“Are there any more witnesses to be questioned?” Judge Crofter asks. No one moves or speaks. “Then, I call the questionings to an end.” He bangs his gavel, punctuating his statement. “All rise.” They do so. “Jury, will you please retire to the jury room?” 

There’s a shuffle as all the people of the jury walk out of the room through the door next to the judge. They’re grim faced, and Harley can’t tell if that’s good or bad for them.

“No one is allowed to leave the building, please stay either in here or in the cafeteria area to reduce the amount of time the interns will have to take to bring you back. No talking to any news people while the jury deliberates, otherwise you will be fined 500 dollars.” With that, the judge follows the jury’s path of leaving through the small door behind him. 

“Well,” Loki starts, an illusion disappearing on his hand to reveal a tall cup of tea he has in hand, “that was disappointing.”

“What were you expecting, them to decide right away?” Harley asks.

“I mean yes. That is what Asgard does. Or,” he corrects himself, “that is what they did before Odin died.”

Harley stares at Loki. “You mean... they just decided the sentence without discussing it?”

“Yes.” Loki’s face is impassive as always, not letting Harley pick out anything. “The court and the King would take what they know of the situation, perhaps listen to others’ recount the events, then the King would decide your fate.” What kind of fucked up trial is that?

“They didn’t even listen to your side?!” Peter yells.

“Why would they have?” Loki asks, his tone mournful and bitterly accepting. Harley knows that tone well, and he hates it every time he hears it. 

“Be- because it’s your story to tell!” Harley protests.

“Harley, Peter,” Loki croons softly, sorrow lacing every word so heavily Harley almost doesn’t recognize them as Loki’s words. “I’m the God of Lies, the Silver-tongued one. You expect them to listen to me?”

“Yes!” Peter insists hotly. “Loki, no matter who someone is, they deserve a fair trial!”

“Thank you spiderling. That is not what happened on Asgard when Odin ruled, however I am glad to know it is different here.”

“Alright kids,” Tony interrupts, coming up from behind. “It’s like, twelve, and I don’t know about you but I’m starving because courts tend to do that for me. Happy’s gonna grab us some food, whatcha guys want?”

MJ, Ned, and Pepper join the group then. “Mmmm, I’d like a medium Mediterranean salad with grilled chicken,” MJ orders. 

“Oh are we doing food orders? I’ll take a medium sized pad Thai, tofu if they have it but beef works too,” Ned says.

“Ooo that sounds good, I think I’ll have some larb, a medium thing of chicken dumplings, and a pack of fries from wherever,” Peter decides.

“Nice, three different cultures in one,” Pepper comments. “Tell Happy I’ll have a gyro, lamb is preferable but I’ll take pork or chicken.”

“I’ll have a medium sized plate of ravioli with cheese insides and meat sauce,” Harley orders.

“Annnnnd Loki whatcha feeling?” Tony asks.

“Hmm, I believe shawarma would be delicious.”

“Your usual size for that then?”

Loki grins dangerously, his playfully deadly smirk appearing. “You know it.”

“Cool,” he turns off to the side. “Baby girl add a large cheeseburger and like, ten large fries to the order list then send it to Happy.” Then Tony turns back to the group. “Alright, food should be here soon.”

“Let’s move to the cafeteria then, everyone else has cleared out anyway,” MJ suggests. Looking around, she’s right. Everyone else has cleared out, including their lawyer. 

“We probably should move then,” Harley says. They get up, Harley taking the moment to kiss Peter’s cheek. Peter blushes the most beautiful shade of pink Harley’s seen, which is why he loves to get Peter to blush.

“C’mon lovebirds,” Tony grouches, “time to migrate to the cafeteria.”

“That sucked old man,” Harley throws back, making Peter giggle. The group eventually makes it to the cafeteria, claiming a table with enough seats for them all. 

“Hey Lokes,” Peter asks, “can you summon a coffee for me?”

“Yeah yeah,” Loki grumbles, summoning seven coffee cups. “Here, since you all will want one.” Harley smirks while grabbing one. He knows Loki isn’t that annoyed at them, he does it mostly for show. Like almost everything he does.

They talk for a bit, laughing and reliving memories, ignoring the dirty looks they get from Eugene and his father and Purl and their lawyers. Surprisingly, he can’t see Peter’s lawyer, even though they should be easy to pick out. They have a birthmark that covers half their face, from their hairline to outline the edge of their nose to end at their chin on their left side. A scar runs from the edge of their lip to their ear, as if someone had tried to cut a gruesome smile into their face but had only gotten the one side. It’s odd, but they were quite good in the court and Harley wants to talk to them, especially after the hard push they gave Eugene.

A ding from Tony’s glasses interrupts Ned’s retelling of how he and Peter almost died after accidentally pranking MJ when they meant to hit Abe. “Sounds like Happy’s here. Pep, could you help me with the food?”

“Sure.” Pepper and Tony walk out of the room, probably headed to the entrance to grab the food from Happy. 

They wait a minute, then Harley starts. “Alright team, Prank War 2018 Part 6. What pranks do we have so far?”

“Well I plan on switching out Steve’s shield with a cardboard copy, cause he’s always polishing it and I want him to panic when it starts to break down under his touch,” Peter cackles.

Harley blinks. “Remind me to never anger you, that was dark darling. Anyone else?”

“Saran wrap the vents so Clint gets caught in them,” MJ adds.

“Like, the entrances? Or the insides?” Ned asks.

“Both.”

“Niiiiiice.”

“I don’t know, I was thinking about replacing the foam blocks in the gym with slime, but that I’ll need help with that.”

“Don’t worry,” Loki speaks up, “I’ll help you with that Ned. As for ideas, I was considering two currently. One, replace all weapons with their winter holiday equal.”

“Damn, it’s like, September. That’s cold blooded Loki.” 

“So naturally we love it.”

“Thank you. And as for my second idea, we do ‘the floor is lava’ but I spell it so it looks and feels like real lava is coming in.”

“But it won’t hurt anybody right?” Peter double checks.

“No one would be hurt if they fell in,” Loki confirms.

“Then we love it,” MJ says. 

“Agreed. So we have five ideas so far, do we want to do the usual mariachi band for Tony?”

“Yessssssss Alejandro and his band were great last time!”

“What about hanging Furbies from the ceiling, but this time we do it in the weapons room?”

“Ned you are a genius and I brotonically love you!”

“Bro!!”

“Hey, what if we covered all the poles in the gym with giant worms on a string?”

“MJ you are a Queen.”

“I know, bow down peasant.”

“What if we planted a trap so no matter what someone does, they’ll either get slimed, glitter bombed, or covered in silly string?”

“I like it Lokes, that should be our declaration of war.”

“Alright alright, stop scheming and start eating,” Tony orders, placing take out boxes in the middle of the table. Pepper follows suit and it descends into chaos. Hands fly and boxes are thrown at each other until everyone has their food. Some are scarfing it down, like himself, while others are eating normally, mainly Loki and Pepper. 

Everyone has a fry pouch in front of them, with three in the middle and Peter with a second one. 

“If you eat any faster, you’ll choke,” Pepper warns. 

“Good,” they joke.

Pepper sighs. “What have I said about those jokes?”

“To only make them at most three times a day,” they parrot back to her. She made that rule after Peter begged God to strike him dead after his toast came out burnt and Wanda told him to jump out a window and then Loki suggested he do a flip. 

“And what count are you at?”

“I’m at one,” Harley says.

“I’m at two,” Peter admits.

“One,” MJ comments, shoveling chicken and salad into her mouth.

“One,” Ned echoes.

“Two, but does asking Happy to assassinate me really count?” 

“Yes it does count Tony! Loki what number are you at?”

“I’m at one, today has been surprisingly not as terrible as I thought.”

“Mooood.”

“Of course, that is just the universe waiting to take away my happiness so why even get your hopes up?” 

“Moooooooood.”

Pepper sighs in defeat. “What am I going to do with you kids?”

“You’re the one who became the mom of literally everyone,” Harley points out. 

“True, true.”

They finish up eating, then start an Uno game between Harley, Peter, MJ, Ned, and Loki. After four rounds and everyone being accused of cheating at least eight times, a young intern comes in and says, “All people for the Stark Industries against Eugene Thompson and Clare Purl must follow me back to the courtroom.” With that, the intern turns and starts to leave.

Loki vanishes their cards and everyone follows the intern. 

They lead them to the courtroom, everyone filing in and taking the same seats. MJ and Pepper up at the front, Harley, Peter, and Loki in the next row, Ned and Tony behind them. Eugene and Purl take their spot with their lawyers, across the aisle from Pepper and MJ, the others with them filling in the seats behind them. Peter squeezes Harley’s hand, and he squeezes back, hoping the sentences Eugene and Purl get are equal to what they’ve been given. 

The lawyer with the birthmark walks in and takes their seat next to Pepper and MJ. 

Then the doors close behind them, locking them in, and the door behind the judge’s desk opens. In walk the jury, who file silently into their seats. Each face is an unknown, every single one the line between if Eugene and Ms Purl get their due. Harley knows they deserve it, but do these people know? Their evidence is good, but still. There’s always that chance, that unknown factor. 

“All rise,” the speaker for the jury says. Everyone stands up. 

In walks Judge Crofter. He’s impassive, face just as stone-faced as Loki’s face. He makes his way to his desk, every foot step like a nail in the coffin. Then he’s standing in front of his chair and he sits. “Everyone may be seated,” he declares, voice booming in the deathly silent room. 

It’s a cacophony of sound when they follow his orders. It’s strange how just sitting can sound loud in such an atmosphere, where it feels like everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the fatal words. 

“Jury, what is your call?”

The lone speaker for the jury stands up. “We the jury find Mr. Eugene Thompson and Miss Clare Purl guilty of all they are accused of.”

A beat. Nothing moves, no one breathes. 

Then there’s an outcry from Eugene’s father and people are yelling and screaming and the judge is banging his gravel and yelling, “Order!”

Once it’s settled, the judge speaks. “The jury has declared the defants guilty of all charges. Therefore, I sentence Mr. Eugene Thompson to five months in prison,” more yelling but the judge just yells louder over them, “and four thousand dollars in fines to be given to Stark Industries. I sentence Miss Clare Purl to one year in prison, four thousand dollars in fines to be paid to Stark Industries, and her teacher’s license will be revoked as of now.” He bangs the gravel with a finality that doesn’t seep in until a beat after.


	19. Memories Call Me Onward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tangled web hides in the background of the base facts of a case.

Those words hang in the silence, then everything erupts. 

Screaming.

That’s all Peter can hear now.

Well, that and a ringing in his ears.

Those words echo in his head, above the yells he can’t tell whether they are from the present or past. “The jury has declared the defendants guilty of all charges.”

Flash and Ms Purl were found guilty. 

He honestly can’t seem to wrap his head around it, and he feels like he’s under five feet of water. There’s screaming, he can hear it, but he can’t tell who it is or what they’re screaming. It could be anyone, really. He’s heard so many screams, it all blends together.

Is it May’s broken sobs late at night when she doesn’t think he can hear her, mourning his parents?

Is it horrified screaming from innocent people who just watched Ben get gunned down?

Is it Rhodey’s screams as he falls from the sky?

Is it screams of terror as his classmates nearly fall to their deaths on the elevator?

Is it his screams when he was left alone under the concrete to die?

Is it Vulture’s screams as the fire grows around him but he can’t move?

Is it New Yorkers’ screams when they saw the spaceship descend on them?

Is it Doctor Strange’s screams as ice needles sink into his skin?

Is it Quill’s screams when he finds out that his girlfriend’s dead?

Is it everyone’s screams as their bodies turned to dust?

Is it the battle cries of warriors and fighters facing Thanos?

Is it the screams of agony as hundreds fall in battle?

Is it victory cheers as Thanos’ army turns to dust?

Is it broken sorrowful cries as loved ones are found dead in the carnage?

Who is screaming? What are they yelling? Where is he?

He can’t seem to hear anything, or feel anything for that matter. It should be concerning. He knows it should be concerning. His hearing is enhanced, how can he not hear well? But he can’t seem to care. There’s a feeling, a nudge in the back of his mind saying he should care, but he can’t. He can’t. There’s nothing there, when he searches for a feeling, it’s just empty. 

There’s an emptiness inside of him. It matches the emptiness he feels around him. He knows it’s not good, that he has an emptiness inside of him. But he can’t seem to care, or at least, he can’t seem to find his emotions so he can care.

The screaming seems to fade, though it was already pretty muffled. 

Silence. 

It’s… nice. He can’t remember much about silence, it doesn’t relate to any bad memories he can think of. It’s calming.

Something breaks it. Something muffled, a word maybe?

There it is again.

“....yt…”

“Pyt…”

Someone’s calling something.

“Pyte…”

“Pyter..”

“Peter.”

A name.

“Peter.”

His name.

“Peter come back to us.” 

“Come back to us Peter.”

The voice is smooth, calm but with hints of nervousness at the edges. 

“Please Peter, listen to my voice.”

It’s a female voice.

“Peter, please, listen to my voice. Come back to us, come back to me, Peter.”

The voice sounds familiar. 

“Come back Peter.” 

And suddenly, or maybe slowly, he can’t tell at this point, sound and touch and **feeling** rush back into him.

He can hear the breathing of two people along with his own. He can hear the closer one’s, the female voice, and the other’s is farther back, as if watching over the two in the room. 

He’s sitting in a soft chair, leather. Peter knows he wasn’t in this chair before he withdrew from the world. 

Confusion mounts as he remembers that he was at a trial, that Flash and Ms Purl had been found guilty. They were handed down their sentences over screaming. Loud screaming. That must have been what threw him, shock plus a trigger. At least he didn’t have an episode or panic attack...

Cracking open his eyes, he immediately sees MJ in front of him, and Loki leaning against the wall. “What-” he takes a shaky breath, MJ and Loki lighting up at his words, “what happened?”

“Well,” Loki says, pushing off of the wall and coming to a stop next to MJ, “Eugene and Purl have been found guilty and sentenced. Quite a harsh sentence too, might I add, for that I am pleasantly surprised.”

“And let’s just say Eugene’s dad wasn’t too happy about that,” MJ snarls. “If I could have punched him and gotten away with it, I would have.”

“I’d have helped if you’d asked,” Loki mutters to her before refocusing on Peter. “Regardless, there was some very loud yelling, mostly by Mr. Thompson and the lawyer defending Purl, but some from Judge Crofter, the Thompson’s lawyer at Mr. Thompson surprisingly, and our lawyer.”

“Gotta say, was not expecting those three to yell at anyone. Crofter maybe, he had that strict teacher vibe, but not the others,” MJ admits. “Anyway, you kinda zoned out, bad. Harley couldn’t get you to respond and we ended up trying to find a quiet room to get you in when this guy came over to us and asked what was going on. He just... led us to this place. Harley was a bit too on edge so he and Ned are off getting water bottles and snacks.”

“Oh. And the guy?”

“I don’t know, I think he’s still outside?” She turns to Loki. “Did you catch his name?”

“Yeah, said his name was Thomas.” Loki looks as if he’s about to say more, but a knock at the door interrupts him. “Hold on, I’ll deal with it.” He opens the door, blocking the slight opening with his body. 

Peter can’t hear what’s being said, odd considering he should be able to, what with his hearing and all. But Loki closes the door and turns back to them. “Who was that?” Peter asks.

“Thomas. Apparently this is Judge Crofter’s office and he was just letting us know that we could use it as long as we needed.”

“Wait, this is the judge’s office?!” Peter screeches. 

“Uh, yes. That’s what I just said spiderling.”

“But- but we gotta get out of here!” He tries to stand up but MJ pushes him back. 

“No. We’re staying here until we know you’re okay.” 

“But-!”

“Not buts!” MJ orders. “We’ll wait here until we can make sure you’re okay, then we’re leaving and having a movie marathon. Or a celebration again because Stark seems to like those, but regardless you’re staying here for now.”

“Fine.”

They sit in silence for a bit, then Loki breaks it. “What triggered it?”

“The screaming,” Peter replies instantly. “And hearing that the two people who have been making my life miserable all these years are actually going away, that I won’t have to see them, that gave me a lot of shock. So, screaming and shock I guess.”

“Got it,” MJ says, tapping something out on her phone. 

“Are you adding to my trigger list?” The again is left unsaid, but they all hear it nonetheless.

“Peter, we don’t know all your triggers. With everything that’s happened, we’ve only documented what we’ve seen. This is a new trigger that we have to note.”

“I know I know Lokes. It’s just, I wish…” He trails off. He wishes he were normal. “I wish I didn’t have all this crap.”

“Don’t we all,” Loki replies, smoothly kneeling down so he’s at Peter’s height. MJ moves to Loki’s former position next to the door. “But, we live on. We adapt. We work with it. We make our peace. It’s high time we got you a therapist.”

“No no no-”

“They wouldn’t know your identity, calm down,” Loki cuts him off soothingly. “You’d wear your mask, or I could cast a disguising spell over you. Regardless of the technicalities, you need to see someone. And you can’t see one of us, we’re your family. It wouldn’t be right to you to have a biased therapist. You’ll have to talk to one of the therapists we have.”

Peter sighs. He knows he needs it. PTSD, heightened anxiety plus his spidey sense, mild depression it seems everyone his age has, and on top of it losing five months of his life to the void. It’s a lot. A lot for someone his age. “Alright.”

Loki smiles. It’s weak, heavy with sadness, but it’s real. It’s true. 

They talk after that, the three of them. It’s about nothing and everything, one of those conversations that just flows from one topic to another, remembering sweet memories they have and laughing over weird things their teachers or Thor has done. 

Soon, a knock at the door pauses the conversation. MJ opens it, checking who it is before letting them in. Ned and Harley walk in, water bottles and nutrient bars in hand.

“Hey darling.”

“Hey Peter!” 

He can’t help but smiles at his best friend and boyfriend. “Hey guys.”

“Feelin’ better sweetheart?” Harley asks, setting the things in his arms on the desk. 

“Feelin’ fine Harls.” Harley hands him a bar while Ned passes out water bottles.

“Glad you’re doing better Peter,” Ned says, leaning against the desk. “How much did you miss?”

“I started leaving after they announced that they were guilty, but I left right around the sentencing.”

“Oh. So you missed-” he cuts himself off and looks over at the others.

“What? What’d I miss?”

“Well…”

“MJ said something about a yelling fight, what happened?”

The four sigh. “Peter,” MJ starts, “there was a lot that went down. You sure you want to know?”

“Yes!”

“Very well,” Loki says. “You four better snack while I talk.” They grumble but do as he says. “Let’s see, Judge Crofter said, ‘The jury has declared the defendants guilty of all charges. Therefore, I sentence Mr. Eugene Thompson to five months in prison,’ and there were some yells but he just bellowed over them, quite intimidating actually, ‘and four thousand dollars in fines to be given to Stark Industries. I sentence Miss Clare Purl to one year in prison, four thousand dollars in fines to be paid to Stark Industries, and her teacher’s license will be revoked as of now.’ Then he banged the gravel to symbolize the end of the case.”

“After that,” MJ picks up the story from there, “all chaos broke out. Eugene’s father was screaming at everyone, cursing up a storm. Our lawyer-”

“What’s their name anyway?” Peter asks.

“Yeah, I never caught their name,” Ned chips in.

“Oh, I think their last name is Nachash.”

“Serpent in Hebrew, a lovely name,” Loki comments.

“Whatever. Nachash started yelling back at Thompson who kept yelling at him, then Purl’s lawyer started yelling, and Eugene’s lawyer started yelling at Thompson for something and then Crofter started yelling at Thompson and Purl’s lawyer. It was a huge mess that no one could understand.”

Then, Ned picks up the line. “It was getting bad, but then Flash’s lawyer yelled out that we had rightly won and Mr. Thompson yelled that the lawyer should have done better bribing Mx Nachash when Mx Nachash spoke up and yelled, ‘I burned that money! This is a house of justice, and I will not fall to society's shortcomings, you might!’ It was seriously dramatic and Mr. Crofter seriously smirked and then said, ‘Thank you Mr. Thompson for admitting to bribery,” and Flash’s dad got this scared look on his face and Mx Nachash and Mr. Crofter just smirked at him. It was seriously cool.”

“So Flash’s dad was bribing people to rig the case?” Peter asks.

“Yep,” Harley answers. “But Nachash and Crofter apparently knew about it, because they were the ones approached for bribes. So they have evidence and an admission of guilt for the case against him now. And we left after that so I don’t know what else happened, but it was a mess.”

“Wow. All that, for this case?” Peter asks.

“Yeah, reputation and what not,” Harley snarls. “Thompson didn’t want his son to have a bad rep so bribery it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started school! So I don’t know how much time I’ll have on my hands, but I’ll do my best to publish a chapter every Tuesday.


	20. Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How are the teens doing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far there’s been a two arcs: field trip and court case. But now it’s time to begin the transition period from court case to the biggest and last major arc. Enjoy the fluff for now readers, because it’s only getting worse from here.

Justice. He didn’t often get it, very rarely actually, but Loki could appreciate the notion, the concept. And, well, the American Justice System was doing better than Asgard’s justice, at least, better than when Odin was in charge. He was taking notes of what they did to maybe incorporate into his new Asgardian system: the swearing to the truth, having an impartial judge and jury, listening to both sides, having multiple people as witnesses. But, learning that bribery and blackmail was often involved, that made him reconsider his thoughts of the system. He still liked it, and he knew it must have flaws and that nothing was sacred, but it still was unpleasant to learn of. 

But those two, Crofter and Nachash, they were surprising. Given bribes, but they didn’t take them, didn’t act on them. It went against everything he knew about humans as a whole and their workings. He knew some exceptions, this family he’s built on Migard for one, but still. As a whole, humanity is very power hungry and willing to sacrifice almost anything for the power they long for.

“And they just…. didn’t take the bribes?” he asks, puzzled.

“I guess so,” Ned answers, shrugging.

“It’s not the norm,” MJ admits, “but at least I know there’s two more honest people in the justice system.”

“MJ if you start stalking them, please at least introduce me to them,” Peter says.

“Deal.”

“Wait wait wait, what?!” Harley yells. “Stalking?!”

“Ah, you stalk people?” Loki asks, interested. 

“Oh yeah, Harls and Lokes don’t know.”

“So,” MJ starts, “way back before there was this huge scandal with the judge over abuse of power and stuff, I decided to trail him.”

“MJ!” 

“What?” Loki admires how she reminds as stoic as ever, deadpan voice as if she’s talking about an essay instead of stalking a high profile government official.

“You- he- He was the High Judge of New York! And you just- just stalked him?!”

“Wasn’t too hard really, security never paid attention to kids. Anyway-”

“aNyWaY?!” Harley sputters.

“Anyway,” MJ drawls, a smirk coming out, “I followed him a bit, took some photos of suspicious stuff, ya know, normal stuff-”

“Normal?! MJ I normally would be supporting you about this but the fact that you actually did it-”

“It was fun,” MJ interrupts. “And I got to anonymously take him down so whatever.”

Harley pauses, thinking it over. “Okay actually that sounds reasonable.”

“And I’m very impressed,” Loki adds.

“But how long did you two know about this?!” Harley asks, pointing at Peter and Ned.

“Oh we knew a couple days after she started,” Peter replies.

“Yeah, we ran her coffee sometimes!” Ned adds. An image of Peter and Ned running MJ coffee and food as she trails a criminal brings a smile to his face. Of course the trio did that.

“And you never got caught?” Loki asks, checking. 

“Nope,” she confirms, popping the p.

“Perfect.”

They continue talking, a bit about MJ’s stalking habits and how the boys have helped her out once in a while, a bit about how school’s going, and plans for Hollow’s Eve, or Halloween as they call it. Because according to them, if people start preparations for Yule Tide, also known as Winter Holidays or Christmas or Hanukkah, then they as the teens of the Avengers’ family have a duty to the Spooky Season. 

As they talk, Loki analyzes his family around him. It’s been a stressful day, and he feels the need to check that they’re truly alright as they claim they are.

First, Ned. He is the easiest to read, he has a very expressive face and voice. He isn’t one to hide things, he prefers to be kind and honest. Loki’s worked with him a bit so he can lie when needed and has a poker face he can use, but it’s rarely used and he’s glad for that. Ned becoming good at lying makes him feel that it would mean he’d corrupted the trusting geek. After seeing Ned after the Reverse Snap, he can tell the toll the Snap took on him, but he can also see the growth Ned’s had since the Reverse Snap. He’s still more withdrawn than he was before the Snap, but it fits with his more weathered, a little more serious personality. Ned is still a geek, still trusting, but he does have a more hardened feel that lies underneath the surface of his excited but chill exterior. Only natural to have after the trauma he’s been through, but it does sadden Loki to know that he had to go through that alone, without any of his friends.

Next, Peter. The cinnamon roll has a naturally open and trusting personality, Loki doubts he could hate anyone immediately on site, before the Vulture, without giving them a second chance first. That changed when the Vulture came. Peter gained a more guarded attitude, though barely perceptible at the time. He also is horrible at lying, at least he was until Loki met him and they worked on that. Peter can lie now, and has a great poker face, but still holds on to his base nature, for which Loki is grateful for. After all, it was that open, trusting personality that had him opening up to Peter, and had gained him this small family inside the larger one of the Avengers. The many battles had worn on him, seen by the dark circles underneath his eyes that never seem to go away and the dullness in his eyes when Loki first saw him after the final battle. The dullness has since faded, but when it appears it haunts and scares Loki more deeply than when he saw his brother with an infinity stone panned to his head. Every time he sees it, that dullness in Peter’s eyes, he wonders what world could put this achingly pure soul through so much pain. But the dullness that had consumed Peter’s eyes after the sentencing is gone now, so Loki knows he’s recovered, enough to interact with more people than just his friends.

Harley then. He’s only known the Southerner for a year, if that, but he knows how Harley works. He’s been hurt by people he trusts: his scumbag of a father, Stark at the beginning of those two’s friendship, countless friends over the years, his mother in part. Going through that has left him with a solid poker face, a hard exterior towards others. He can lie without a flinch, can act like a pro, and doesn’t get along with others too well. He’s similar to Stark like that. Both try to keep others at a distance, to keep people safe from them or to keep themselves safe from people coming to hurt them even more. But, as with them all, Peter wormed his way into Harley’s heart and helped him open up to certain others. Harley still doesn’t trust easily, always a good skill to have in Loki’s opinion, but he’s a lot more open about his feelings to those he trusts. During the case he looked very tense, but now, laughing and trading quips with his friends, Loki can see how relaxed he is. 

MJ is last. She has a poker face like him, can hide her emotions almost as well as he can and is excellent at lying. From his observations, it’s not from trauma like many of the others, no it’s from in part seeing news she should not have had to see as a young child, partly her parents being less emotionally there for her, and in part just who she is. Some people are naturally more closed off than others, and she is one of those people. It can be both a curse and a blessing. On one hand, he never worries about her not being able to get her way, as she can lie so well because of her closed face, but on the other he can never tell what she’s feeling or how she’s doing mentally. He wishes sometimes that she could let it down more often, that he could assure her that spending time on herself and not always on more obvious pain is okay. But it’s a process and he’ll put in the time needed to do that, because he’s done the same thing she does and he needs to make sure she doesn’t end up down the road he went down. And right now, among her friends, he can tell that she’s relaxing into letting down her walls, that she’s doing alright. Not perfect, but it’s good. It’s enough for him to know she’ll be okay.

A knock on the door interrupts a lull in the conversation. “I’ll get it,” he says, getting up and walking to the door. Opening it and shielding the others with his body, he sees three people. Thomas, a man with an average build, lightly tanned skin, brown hair with undercuts but a long fringe dyed full rainbow, warm chestnut eyes. Judge Crofter, taller than the other two, no longer in his formal black robes anymore but a black polo, dark blue striped tie, and navy blue dress pants. And Mx Nachash, average build, about the same height as Thomas, dark brown hair, heterochromia eyes, one hazel and one caramel brown that almost looks yellow. Although they have differences in height and appearance, Loki cannot overlook the obvious resemblance they have with each other. “Hello?” he says neutrally. He doesn’t trust any of the three, but they’ve all proven to be good people, so he isn’t defensive. Not yet.

“Salutations, I am here to reclaim my office if possible?” Crofter starts with.

“Logan, no.” Nachash says. “What he means is that we were wondering if Mr. Parker was feeling better and if we could talk to him.”

“That’s not-”

“Logan,” Thomas interrupts, “remember what Patton’s always telling us.”

Crofter sighs. “Be kinder when dealing with new people, I remember.” He turns to Loki. “Very well, is Mr. Parker alright?”

These three know each other well. “Yes, he is.”

“Can we perhaps talk with him?” Nachash asks. “We-”

“I,” Crofter corrects.

“-Logan noticed he was ushered out of the court after the relevance of bribery and we-”

“More like me,” Thomas mutters.

“-wish to know what affected him so much, if he’s willing to say,” Nachash finishes.

The three’s dynamic is odd but fun. Crofter seems very logical, whereas he can tell Thomas is very emotionally open and warm, and Nachash is very loose with the whole truth but emotionally closed off. Clearly, there’s a history with the three. “Let me ask him,” Loki replies. He closes the door, then turns to Peter. “Crofter, Nachash, and Thomas wish to talk with you.”

“About what?” Peter asks with a tilt to his head, his tell-tale curiosity out to play.

“According to them, the case and you walking out.”

“And in your opinion?”

“I believe they wish to meet you, or know that you’re okay, or truthfully talk about the case. It’s hard to tell, two of them are closed books.”

“Alright, uh let them in I guess?”

Loki looks to the others, who all nod in agreement. So, he goes back to the door and opens it fully, allowing the three to walk in.

“Thank you.”

“Thanks.”

“Yes yes, introductions are in order,” Crofter says. “I’m Logan Sanders-Crofter, that is-”

“I am Janus Sanders-Nachash, he/him pronouns please,” Nachash drawls.

“And I’m Thomas Sanders!” Thomas ends. “He/him pronouns as well.”

“Are you three related or…?” Ned asks.

“We’re family, yes. Moving on,” Crofter instructs as Nachash closes the door. “Mr. Parker, firstly are you alright?”

“Uh…. yes?”

“Excellent. Now, I wish to apologize for the corruption attempted in your case, and if you wish to have a more clean case you may ask to have a redo, if you will.”

“A redo? What?”

“It would mean a new judge, jury, and a more tightly monitored case, as no one would know who any of they would be until the case began, and no one would be able to leave or interact with the people until after the case is settled,” Crofter explains.

“Oh um, no I’m good, but thank you. The sentence was more than I thought it would be.”

“Very well. Then I have nothing more-”

“Hold up dude,” MJ interjects. “Why’d all three of you show up?”

The three men look among each other. They seem to have a silent conversation among themselves, then Thomas sighs and turns back to the group. “I wanted to make sure you were okay, because I know a lot of trans people who’ve faced stuff like this and never got the chance to have the justice you get. And, with everything that happened, I wanted to make sure you got the closure you deserve to get, especially after hearing your testimonies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write this in one sitting then edit it in an hour? Yes.  
> Have I survived the first week of school? Yep!  
> Is my acne acting up? Unfortunately yes.  
> Hotel? Trivago.
> 
> Due to school, I know my chapters may begin to suffer a little, but I swear I’ll always give you 2,000 words, even if the actual length is less than usual. Updates will be every Tuesday, we’ve got maybe ten to twenty more chapters to go so let’s hope I can finish before winter break!!


	21. News Travels Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Build-up for the beginning of the ultimate arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s so short! It is 2,000 words as usual, but the actual length may seem short compared to my other chapters and that’s mostly because it’s just setting us up for the major arc. I seriously can’t wait for this!!

“How’d you hear our testimonies?” MJ asks coldly. Peter’s equal parts glad she’s so careful and picked up on that detail but feels like she’s being a little harsh to them.

“I was a jury member,” Thomas answers smoothly. “Probably not the best, having three people of the same family in the court, but I guess we got away with it.” He laughs a little, very much like what Peter does when he’s nervous and trying to lighten the mood of a very tense room. 

“Uh huh…” MJ drawls, obviously not buying it.

“Both of us can vouch for him, miss,” Mr. Crofter says.

“Fine.”

“Also,” Mr. Nachash says, “I wanted to recommend a therapist who’s a friend of mine, Emile Picani. In case any of you need one, because from your testimonies many of you may want to.” 

They leave after that, letting Mr. Crofter have his office back. Tony and Pepper collect them up and usher them into the waiting cars, Harley, Peter, Loki, and Tony in one car while Pepper takes MJ and Ned and Happy drives them.

Tony drives with Loki in the front passenger seat, so when Peter allows the car’s quiet thrumming to lull him to sleep, he wakes up with his head on Harley’s shoulder and Harley gently shaking him awake. “C’mon darling,” he says softly, “we’re home.”

Peter blinks his eyes open then smiles and slowly gets up, letting Harley get out before climbing out. He pops his back and stretches, then turns to see who else is in the Tower garage. Pepper, MJ, Ned, Tony, Loki, and Happy.

“Hey kid, coming?” Tony calls out.

“Yeah I’m coming,” Peter replies, walking with Harley towards the elevator. 

“Well hurry up otherwise we’re leaving without you!” 

Harley laughs. “We’re going slow so you don’t get a heartache old man!”

“Baby girl, block Harley for me.”

“I cannot do that, as Protocol Internet Dad overrides that.”

They make it to the elevator as Halrey almost trips laughing so hard. “Defeated by your fathering instincts!” he crows triumphantly. 

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up,” Tony grumbles, pretending to be angry but Peter can see his lip curving up as Harley continues to laugh.

The elevator doors open up to the common room, where the Avengers who couldn’t go to the case and May are hanging out. Immediately a cheer goes up and it’s a whirlwind of cheers and laughing. Since they all agreed beforehand to have a party if things went well, there’s food and plates already set up and ready to go. 

It’s chaotic, with everyone sitting anywhere there’s space so many are sitting in each other’s laps or the floor or on the armrests of couches, but Peter loves it. He loves cuddling up with Harley and whoever happens to be next to him, Ned this time, with a plate of food in his lap and his dysfunctional family all around him. May’s on the other couch, in between Nat and Happy. Carol’s wife and daughter, Maria and Moncia if he remembers correctly, are also on that couch, talking with them. Carol is taking shots with Valkyrie in the kitchen while Thor acts as referee, though he’s holding a tankard of Asgaridian mead too. Loki’s perched on the armrest of a fluffy chair Bruce is sitting in. Both are sipping cups of tea, discussing the recent book they both read. Wanada, Sam, and Clint are playing an intense game of Mario Kart on the floor, Vision leaning against the couch at Peter’s feet, a safe distance away from their girlfriend. Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper are in a vicious Uno game with MJ and Steve. Bucky is on the couch next to Ned, either asleep or watching the Mario game.

“I don’t know man, I think they did a good job with the adaptation of _Ready Player One_ ,” Harley says.

“Did a- what are you talking about!?” Ned sputters. “It was horrible! The movie took away so much of the complexity of the book and world! Not to mention the lives of the characters! And it messed up so much of Morrow and Haillday’s friendship! And that ending- what was that?! The book was about how the real world is just that: real. The virtual world isn’t. But noooo, they changed it to ‘have the best of both worlds’ because screw the book I guess!”

Peter sighs as the two bicker over it. He thought both the book and the movie were good in their own rights, heavy with pop culture references and interesting character plot lines. Sure the movie deviated from the book’s original plot, but it went well enough, it wasn’t terrible. Ned and Harley enjoyed debating any and all geek or nerd stuff, so this was normal for them to do this. Their debate of Star Trek or Star Wars is legendary though, both of them with mounds of evidence and slideshows and such they’ve complied. It’s nothing to joke about for either of them, but thankfully they don’t let it interfere with their friendship. That’d be awkward if his best friend and boyfriend couldn’t stand each other.

He sets his plate on the coffee table and curls his feet up. Leaning his head on Harley’s shoulder, he watches the Mario Kart game continue, Wanada in the lead with Clint and Sam fighting to topple her or the other. Before he knows it, he’s fast asleep.

The trial was on a Saturday, so when Peter wakes up it’s Sunday. He ignores all social media, any news at all, and spends the day relaxing in the lab or playing Mario Kart. No one leaves the Tower, except Loki who pops over to Asgard to check on things before coming back. She reports back that Heimdall is taking care of things and that she can stay a week, but then she must go back. Peter and the others that don’t live at the Tower, May, MJ, and Ned are going back home after dinner, but for now they get to relax and stay away from cameras and questions and everything.

The day goes by too quickly, and he finds himself kissing Harley goodbye too soon. He climbs into the back of the car with MJ and Ned, May going up and sitting up next to Happy. The partition is up, so when they start to drive off the trio opens up their social media.

“Guys…” He trembles, staring down at his screen. Plastered all over Twitter is talk about the case. Flipping through Instagram and his different news apps, he sees that it’s all the same. People talking about the case and the outcome. And...

“How the hell did they get footage!?” MJ snarls, looking like she’s ready to murder someone. Or more than one.

“I thought they didn’t keep any footage,” Ned says, shock written across his face. “Why- why do they have everything on here? _How_ do they have everything on here?”

“It’s all been leaked…” Peter whispers, going through the entire, hours upon hours long video. He doesn’t watch it all the way through, but it seems to have every single testimony, every drop of information given, everything said was in the video. Looking at the end of the video, it even has the yelling at the end that had his friends pulling him out. 

“Look what they’re saying on Twitter,” Ned whispers, holding his phone out so all three teens can see it.   
  


**TheNewYorker@TheNewYorker**

In the latest development in the Stark Industries vs a student and a teacher of Midtown Tech case, footage of the entire case has been leaked by an unknown source onto Youtube. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=courtcase0fSI&stu+teach ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0)

**homeboy needs help@treesssssss**

holy shit have you seen the footage of the SI vs student and teach? 

**but like, the bee movie@phasesofthemoon**

PETER?!?!?!?!

**stressed and depressed@abe_lincoln_duh**

Why is there footage of Peter’s court case?! This is a breach of privacy!

**toMATEo@KD**

I was rooting for the kid until I found out he was gay. Like, jeeze, trans is fine but gay? Ew!!!

**darry4life@starkidaddict**

That poor kid… I’m glad he’s getting his justice

**dying insde@theofficeismyonegod**

holy shit are those kids okay? And Peter, he has ptsd?!

**buzz buzz motherlovers@that’sbettywithaB**

peter has ptsd…… **@Midtowndecathlon** guys we need to educate ourselves like, immediately

**i’mholdingoutfora10@becauseI’mworthit**

all in favor of punching the Thompson kid raise their hand

**Yourfriendlypastor@allsaints**

This poor young girl, so confused! And everyone believes her, throwing punishment on the only two who see sense! Shame on SI, shame!

**r a i n b o w s@i’mgaaaaaaaaay**

that teacher is so transphobic I hope she steps on legos in hell

**wheniwasayoungboy@anxiety**

**@LoganCrofters** what the hell is going on teach?!

**→thisprincebeslaying@sir_sings_alot**

**@anxiety** vee what’s going on?

→ **dogs &cats@pattycake**

 **@sir_sings_alot** remember the SI vs that student and teacher case? The footage of the trial has been released onto the internet.

→ **hissssssss@boopnoodle**

no no no no no this can’t be happening

→ **thisprincebeslaying@sir_sings_alot**

this is awful!! also **@boopnoodle** you okay j?

→ **trashman@i’mtheduke**

 **@sir_sings_alot** i got j. can i stab that purl now?

→ **crofters@LoganCrofters**

Firstly, thank you **@anxiety** for alerting me to this. Secondly, as a judge I cannot allow you to do that **@i’mtheduke** , however as your friend I can only say that you’d better ask **@boopnoodle** before doing so.

**buildawall@oppressed4noreason**

Dear Lord what is wrong with these people? She is obviously a girl, why are you punishing the only ones who seem to get that?!

**thepenbemighter@becauseI~stab~withink**

get that damn video off the internet right now none of them consented to have their faces revealed this is a breach of privacy!!

“This is disgusting…” Peter mutters as he reads the comments and posts. Most of them are either voices of supporting him or passing info to each other or talking about how this is a breach of their privacy, but some of them are of support for Flash and Ms Purl, yelling transphobic and homophobic stuff. So many call him a girl….. And even more call him slurs for being gay.

“If my apartment has reporters surrounding it, I will hurt people,” MJ seethes.

“MJ no murders,” Peter reminds her, almost as an afterthought.

“Allow me to at least murder the person who leaked all this footage to the internet!” MJ fumes. “I mean, no one is supposed to even have that!” 

“I could try to track the link,” Ned muses, “to see where it came from. Maybe the one who posted it left a trail.”

The car stops and the partition lowers. “Okay, Ned this is you.”

“Oh thanks Mister Happy sir!” Ned says, getting out. “Peter, MJ, don’t do anything rash!”

“We wouldn’t!”

“I promise nothing.”

Peter rolls his eyes at MJ. “Keep us updated on what you find, okay?”

“Will do! Bye!”

“Bye!” the two chorus, waving as Ned walks into his building. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I added tags in the relationship area, so check those out.  
> 2) I loved playing with the social media parts, that was super fun! Maybe I’ll do a mini series like that after this is done....  
> 3) I've been thinking over it, and I wanted to get your thoughts on whether I should click the 'graphic violence' tag for Archive warnings. Thoughts?


	22. Cannot Avoid It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only a chapter or two more before we see some action!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many plans I can’t wait till the next chapter!!! Also throwback to the first chapter ever in this!!

Happy rolls up the partition as they drive off. “Peter?”

“Yeah MJ?”

“Don’t take the comments personally.”

“I won’t!”

“Peter,” she fixes him to the spot with her gaze, “I know you. You love the world with your too big heart, but it also means that you take things sent against you and your group personally. We’ll get this sorted out and we’ll make them pay-”

“MJ…”

“-but in the meantime, you gotta remember that they aren’t you. They don’t know you. They don’t have the right to judge you for things outside of your control. They aren’t worth even a second of your time.”

He cracks a smile. MJ’s pep talks tended to vary from murdering and making people pay to keeping your head up and remembering that you are a ruler and as such need to do just that: rule. But she always knows how to cheer him up and make it all seem better. Or at least, make him feel like he can make it through this. “Thanks MJ.”

“Anytime nerd.”

“No seriously, thank you.” He leans closer, arms open but letting her have the final say in whether she wants to be hugged. She closes the gap and hugs him.

“Of course, you’re my loser number 2, what’d I do without you?” Peter has to laugh at that, because that’s MJ’s way of telling him that she cares about him. He’s loser number 2, Ned’s loser number 1, and Harley’s her loser number 3. 

“I don’t know, rule the world?”

“Ha! I could do that in my sleep.”

“Then why haven’t you?” Peter asks cheekily.

“Because God cursed me with depression and anxiety, otherwise I would have overthrown him already.”

“Mood.”

They chat a little before the car stops again and Happy rolls down the partition. “MJ, this is you.”

“Thanks Hap. Bye May, bye loser.”

“Bye MJ!” With that, she exits the car and walks into her building. 

They drive in silence, Peter deciding to ignore the notifications on his phone for now and to not tell May or Happy. Then they pull up to their apartment. Peter gets out, rolling his eyes as May and Happy share a kiss. But he is smiling when May gets out, starry eyed with a sappy smile on her face. May and Happy are good for each other, he knows that and he supports her. However he still will be grossed out by her kissing someone, especially Happy. Like, that’s his _aunt_ for crying out loud!

“C’mon bud, let’s go home,” May says. They walk into the building and take the elevator up to their floor. After dealing with the search for the right key as always, May opens the door and they enter. “Alright, I’m crashing,” she says, closing the door behind her. “You can stay up or patrol or something, just make sure to be back by eleven because you have school tomorrow.”

“I think I’ll just sleep, I did some patrolling today and Sundays are usually calmer,” Peter replies. “Plus, I’m tired.”

“Peter you’re always tired,” May quips. “But I get it. Sleep well bud,” she hugs him tightly and he hugs back. “I larb you.”

“I larb you too.” Peter heads to the bathroom, moving through his nightly routine then collapsing on the bed. He can feel all his energy drain away. Being around people he like is great, and he always enjoys hanging around with his found family, but at heart he is an introvert and he needs a break to refill his social battery. 

He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he hears is his alarm going off. Grumbling, he gets up and turns it off. On one hand he’s glad he placed it on the other side of his room, he muses as he exits his bedroom, heading for the kitchen, but on the other he hates it because that means he has to get up. And as everyone knows, as soon as you get up it’s hard to get back to sleep. 

May is still asleep, he can hear her slight snore. He pops bread into the toaster and pulls out some peanut butter from the pantry. Today is going to be hectic and not fun, so he’s gonna need all the energy peanut butter can give him. 

“If you’re drinking the milk from the jug again I will scream,” May mutters as she walks in.

“It was a dare! And I only did it once!” Peter protests, pouring his milk into a glass because as much as May claims he’s a heathen, he _is_ civilized. 

“Yeah yeah, pass me the yogurt,” May says.

“Ughhhhh,” Peter exaggerates, opening the fridge door and handing her the yogurt anyway.

“Thank youuuuuu.”

“Whateeeeeever.” The toaster pops so Peter grabs himself a plate and puts his two pieces on it, beginning the slathering of peanut butter on the slices. 

“So, got any tests today?” May asks as she eats.

“Nope, Spanish is on Wednesday and Calc is on Thursday,” Peter recites, finally deeming his toast perfectly covered. “What about you, what hours this week?”

“I have the afternoon and evening shift today, then graveyard to early morning on Tuesday, then it’s all full days or full nights for the rest of the week. I do have to take Sunday’s full day shift, but I get Friday afternoon and all of Saturday off.”

“Great!” They eat in relative silence, Peter getting up to grab an apple to eat. 

“Oh, I’m going out with Happy Saturday night.”

“Oooooooooooooooo,” Peter says, winking at her.

“Stooooop,” she giggles. “It’s just a fancy dinner.”

“Yeah, but it’s also been, what, four months now?” Peter teases.

“Yeah… I mean we got together in May-ish…” Her mood seems to darken and Peter reaches out, laying a hand over her’s. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I know the past months have been hard, and I can’t imagine what you felt when you thought you’d lost me.” _After you’ve lost everyone else_ , is left unsaid. They both know how scared they are of losing more family. “And while I wish I could have been there to threaten Happy to treat you well when he came to pick you up for your first date, he was there for you and both of you needed to have someone. He’s good for you. And I’ve threatened him a lot so it’s okay,” he adds, to lighten the mood.

“Thank you Peter,” May whispers, hugging him. 

“Anytime May,” he replies, hugging back just as tightly.

After their bonding moment Peter cleans up and gets ready for school. His phone doesn’t have any new messages besides his group chat with Ned and MJ which has a couple. 

**Eat the Rich**

**Queen:** alright bitches, here’s what we’re gonna do 

**Queen:** we follow peter and punch anyone who gets to close

 **techguy:** um….

 **Queen:** okay i’ll punch people

 **spooder:** mj why

 **Queen:** because yes 

**spooder:** fair enough

 **Queen:** see you losers soon

“Alright May, I’m going to head out now,” Peter calls out. 

“Backpack?”

“Check!”

“Phone? Keys? Earbuds?”

“Check, check, and check!”

“Suit?”

“Yep!”

“Okay have a good day! Love you!”

“Love you too!” With that he leaves the apartment, popping in his earbuds and starting up his early morning playlist as he walks to the subway. 

It’s relatively calm on it, a lot of people and students headed to work or school. He goes through his notifications during the ride, his twitter blowing up but his tumblr relatively normal. Well, as normal as tumblr can get of course. His Instagram is blowing up too, but most of the notifications he deletes or marks as seen. Checking the time and stops, he hops off at his stop and makes it to school.

MJ is sitting on a bench a block away and he plops down next to her. “Where’s Ned?”

“He’s coming,” MJ says, checking her phone. “Give it two minutes.”

“So... social media blew up.”

“Yep. I know you have the decathlon chat muted-”

“How did you-”

“You mute it for patrol and almost never remember to turn it back on.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Anyways, it’s more of a dumpster fire than normal, so let me bring you up to speed when Ned gets here.”

“Sounds good.”

They only have to wait a minute before Ned appears. “Hey gays!”

“Hey broski,” MJ and Peter say in sync. 

“Alright, MJ you said you had some news?” 

“Since I know you both haven’t checked the decathlon chat, let me sum it up. They know Peter has PTSD, they blocked Flash, Mr. Harrington is pan, has a boyfriend, and had a mental breakdown, and now we have a google doc with a list of your triggers.” Peter blinks, surprised.

“Okay hold up, time out,” Ned says. “He has a boyfriend? I mean good for him but daaaaang. Two, is the doc shared with us?”

“I mean good for Mr. Harrington but now we have to track down who he is and threaten him,” Peter adds.

“I’m pretty sure the doc is shared to all three of us as well, and don’t worry Cindy and Betty are on it.”

Ned checks the time. “Shit we gotta get going, school starts in ten minutes.”

They get up and walk towards the school, Peter’s nerves skyrocketing with every step. “It’s going to be okay, right?” 

“Right. And we’ll be next to you as much as we can,” Ned reassures.

“What Ned said,” MJ says. “And the decathlon team sounds like they’re not going to swarm you as soon as they see you, if it helps.”

“That does help a bit. And, I mean we’re all teens, it’s not like they’ll care, right?” 

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhh.”

So, that wonderful reassurance and a deep breath, they walk in. Kids stare at him. They whisper. He feels like he’s walking to his death when he approaches his locker. Nothing’s on it, and when he opens it nothing pops out of it either. Good signs!

Ned is just two lockers down and MJ’s across the hallway luckily, so they group back up and MJ walks them to class before leaving for hers. Miss Dar is already there at her desk, looking up and marking them down for attendance. All talk ends and Peter can feel all eyes on him as he and Ned take their seats. 

When he looks around the room, Flash isn’t there. His seat is empty, and his fake friends sit around his space. He can tell from their stances that they don’t know what to do without him or where he is. It’s odd to see them like that. 

No one talks until the bell rings. Then Miss Dar stands up and addresses the class. “Alright, does anyone know where Eugene is?”

Not a word. His friends look at the ground.

“Alright, then I’ll have to mark him late.” She does so, then sighs. “I can feel the tension of this room, so instead of talking about whatever I was supposed to teach today, let’s talk the justice system.” Closing the door, she pops open a whiteboard marker and turns to the class. “I don’t expect any of you to have watched the entire footage, but here are some key points: one. Stark Industries had a legal right to take what happened on their grounds to the court.” She begins to write her point on the board. “Two. Lying under oath is a felony and can mean up to five years in jail. Eugene is lucky he only got five months. Three. Ms Purl deserved to get her teaching license taken away, as she committed physical assault by slapping Peter. Four. Bribery is a felony and equates to a year or more of prison time, so Mr. Thompson is in deep trouble. And lastly, five. Leaking footage of a confidential case is a federal crime. Punishable for up to ten years in prison.”


	23. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have finally begun the final major arc :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if the vibe/writing is off, I’m sorry I wrote this while sleep deprived and lacking motivation. I’ll do better next chapter.

After Miss Dar’s speech, it feels as if everything’s been muted. But Peter can hear people breathing and the fan going, so he assumes that didn’t happen.

Miss Dar sighs and pulls her chair to her and sits. “I’m, I’m not going to tell you kids what to do. You’ve lived through so many near-death events recently, hell some of you died,” her voice cracks on the last word. They all know she lost her best friend and that it ruined her. “Honestly, I worry so much about you and your generation, inheriting a dying world that so many insist isn’t dying, generations claiming you are lazy when you are doing as much as you can with what you have, learning to act older quicker so you can handle it all, living in a galaxy that seems intent on trying to snuff out us. I know I’m six years older than you, and that it’s not my fault that things are the way they are, but I feel like I have failed you. Like it’s my fault you have to deal with things like this, dying and PTSD and depression and anxiety and hoping to make it to thirty because that feels like an impossible dream. And so I’m not going to tell you what to do because I don’t get the right to do that. But I’m going to say this: don’t give up the things you love. Don’t let life take away the things that make you happy. Who cares if society tells you it’s for children or for old people or for girls or for boys? Who cares if it’s meant for categories you don’t fit in? Do what you love, what makes you happy. You only live once kids, YOLO.”

Peter can’t tell if he’s supposed to be crying or clapping, but he feels like doing both. Of course crippling anxiety keeps him from doing so, but it’s the thought that counts.

“I have something to do, so do whatever you want, leave the classroom or school, the rest of the time is yours until your next class.” With that she grabs her bag and leaves.

Kids look at each other in shock. They still have forty minutes of class left and their teacher just told them to do whatever they wanted to do. Some slowly, carefully get up and leave with their stuff. Some pull out their phones. Peter, sharing a glance with Ned, pulls out his laptop and they watch some Netflix until the bell rings. 

After that, Peter moves to his next class. None are like Miss Dar’s, most just ignoring the tension in the room while others look extremely uncomfortable but keep teaching anyway. People try to approach him before and after class, but he always ducks out as soon as the bell rings, walking around with Ned or MJ or both, coming into class during the last minute to avoid questions.

Lunch is even more awkward, everyone’s watching him so he ends up just, not eating. Ned tries to distract him while MJ glares at everyone, but it doesn’t help as much as he wishes it could. Even MJ can’t make everyone stop staring. When the bell rings for them to start heading back to classes and everyone finally stops looking at him, MJ forces him to eat. She holds out his sandwich and a bunch of energy bars. “Okay, you’re going to eat all of this and then you’re going to snack on these bars for the rest of the day.”

“But-”

“Don’t even start.” With that vague but very real threat, Peter manages to gulp down the entire sandwich before he leaves the cafeteria. 

Classes are the same after lunch, everyone staring and all talk stopping when he enters a classroom. The teachers pretend to act like nothing’s going on, but Peter can literally feel the tension. His spider sense keeps a low buzz going, telling him that danger isn’t _here_ , but it’s not exactly _safe_. He does manage to eat all the energy bars, both for his stomach and MJ’s threat. 

Once the last bell rings for the day, he’s the first one out the door, dashing to his locker so he can fill his backpack and get away from the tension. He doesn’t see Ned or MJ anywhere and he can sense that some people are approaching him, so he bolts. 

He runs for a dozen blocks before he realizes he needs to slow down and decide on a place to go. What he needs is a place where he can just relax and calm down. The apartment is empty and quiet, but he’s too jittery for watching TV on the couch for a couple hours. Maybe the Tower? Harley’s at MIT for classes right now, he won’t be back for another hour or two. Perks of having Tony as a friend/dad figure is that Harley can live in New York and still attend MIT without too much transit time. So maybe one of the others? Loki and Bruce are always up for meditation or just sipping tea and reading a book. Of course he could patrol, but something tells him that doing that would only put more pressure on him. 

Pulling out his phone, Peter texts Ned and MJ that he’s going to the Tower to calm down and that he’ll talk to them later.

Then, he ducks into an alley and changes into his suit. Walking from Queens to Manhattan is hell, even for him, so instead he swings there. It’s amazing how much time can be made when you’re not dealing with traffic and crossing roads and the worst thing in NYC besides the crime: tourists.

Soon he swings on to the patio of the Tower and Friday lets him in. He heads to his room to change, then makes a bee line for Loki’s room, as Bruce is probably working right now. He knocks on the dark stained wooden door, something Loki insisted on having. Peter knows it’s because it feels more real than all the plastics in the Tower, plus it’s easier to carve runes and inbed magic into things of nature than it is man-made materials. Loki taught him that one time.

“Enter,” Loki’s voice says.

The door swings open as he reaches for the handle and he enters, the door closing behind him with magic. Loki’s sitting cross legged on the carpeted floor in their usual relaxation clothes: black leggings and oversized dark green sweater; reading from a floating book as they sharpen their knives. There’s soft music playing, probably Asgardian, as he doesn’t think he’s ever heard something like it before. 

Loki turns to look at Peter. “Spiderling?” They say it like they’re asking how he’s doing.

He sighs and sits down across from Loki. “Can I just sit here for a bit?”

“Of course spiderling.” With that, Loki goes back to their reading, disappearing their knives. Peter sits there and lets the tension ease out of his body. The soothing music helps, so he focuses on it, letting all other thoughts just drift away.

Loki starts humming along with it. Peter knows Loki only hums when they don’t realize they’re doing it, just feeling the music and unconsciously following it. He leans back and closes his eyes, just focusing on the sounds. 

The music, calm in it’s gradual rise and fall, Loki’s humming, the flip of a page, both of their breathing. His spider sense is finally silent, lulled to sleep by the knowledge that this is safe. It’s a big contrast to school, to the kids yelling and the hundreds of feet running to class and knowledge that while it’s not dangerous it’s not safe either. But here it’s safe, with a faint mint and lavender smell, Asgardian music with Loki humming, and soft carpet he could take a nap in.

Eventually, Loki speaks. “Better?”

“Much, thank you.”

“Anytime Peter. Do you want to talk or…?”

“School was hell, that’s all.”

“I thought school was hell for you always,” Loki quips.

“It was even worse today. Everyone was watching me and tried to talk to me. And lunch was horrible, MJ forced me to have a sandwich right before class.”

“Did you eat at all?”

“I had the sandwich and a couple energy bars.”

“Spiderling that’s not enough.”

“I know, but they were all looking at me…”

“I understand, but they aren’t looking now.” They stand up, reaching out a hand and pulling Peter up with them. “C’mon, we’re baking.”

By baking, they meant making a cake because why not. It’s three layers: vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet. The base frosting is sky blue buttercream, with white with blue streaked frosting done in pretty swirls all over the cake. It looks beautiful, so he takes a picture before Loki cuts themself a giant slice, taking a piece of each layer. To be fair, Peter does too. Enhanced metabolism is an incredible gift he will always forget to appreciate for letting him eat so much junk food without consequence. 

“Thanks,” he says after finishing, “I needed this.”

“Anytime spiderling,” Loki replies.

Peter’s phone starts playing the Star Wars theme; Ned. He picks up and immediately Ned starts speaking, “Peter? Peter are you there?”

“Yeah I’m here, what’s going on?”

“Me and MJ were walking, well really she was quizzing me but that doesn’t matter, when we went past your apartment building. A bunch of reporters are swarming at the entrance dude, they know where you live!”

“What!?”

MJ must have grabbed the phone because her voice comes through next. “Yeah they’re all over the place, we had to duck into an alley before someone saw us.”

“What’s going on?” Loki asks.

“Hang on guys, I’m putting you on speaker.” He lays his phone on the table and trunks on speaker as he fills in Loki. “Okay, now explain.”

“We were walking around because Ned needed quizzing-”

“It’s not my fault the government doesn’t make any sense!” Ned interrupts.

“-and we passed your apartment building and saw that a bunch of reporters were filming or sitting around outside of it. Then we overheard them talking about you and the case, so we hid in the alleyway,” MJ says.

“Do you need help getting out of there?” Loki asks.

“Nah I have some sunglasses and Ned has a couple hats so we should be able to get out of here alright.”

“The real question is, what’re we going to tell May? And how’re you getting home?” Ned points out.

“We have to tell May the truth, if it’s on the news then it’s best she hears it from us first. As for home… I’m not sure.”

“You two could always stay here,” Loki suggests. “You have rooms here and security.”

“Yeah! Plus, Happy can drive you,” Ned jumps in.

“That would work,” Peter muses. “I mean, I’ll have to talk with May about it but it’s not a bad idea.”

“Perfect,” Loki says. “MJ, Ned, head to the Tower once you’re free. We don’t know if they’re camping out at your homes too.”

“Oh shit, Mom’s gonna be mad,” Ned mutters.

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” MJ says before hanging up.

Peter sighs and collapses in his chair. “Of course this happened,” he mutters into the table. “First the field trip, then the court case, and now this.”

“Hey, the field trip was good,” Loki pauses. “If you ignore all the bad things that happened, of course.”

“Ugh, I just want to have one! Freaking! Day! Without something like this popping up.”

Loki laughs next to him. “Spiderling, you forget that you’re a superhero. Your found family is a bunch of superheroes and people who could take over the world if they tried. That’s never going to happen.”

“Yeah but it’d be nice if it did,” Peter grumbles.

He texts May that there’s reporters out by their home so she knows to just go to the Tower, then waits for Ned, MJ, and his boyfriend to arrive. Clint and Nat pop in once he and Loki start watching The Office. 

All it takes is one look from Nat and Peter’s filling them in on what’s going on.

“Hey Fri? Get Tony up here, we gotta go scare off reporters,” Nat says.

“No no, it’s fine! We’ll be fine!” Peter panics.

“Hm… nope we’re scaring reporters off,” Clint decides. “Snake god, you in?”

“I’m always up for mischief,” Loki smirks.

“Noooooo Lokes you’re supposed to be watching The Office with me!” Peter says, trying to stop his family from potentially injuring reporters.

“What’s going on?” Tony asks, coming out of the elevator. 

“Reporters are camped out at Peter’s apartment,” Nat explains.

“So we’re scaring them away?” Tony asks with a smile.

“No because you are all going to sit down and watch The Office and not have Pepper yelling at you,” Peter says.

“Oh.” They all seem to remember that Pepper would kill them at the exact same time. So they all sit down and watch The Office while they wait for MJ and Ned to show up.


	24. The Stakes Are Set

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: kidnapping and threats of murder

It’s been three hours. Three hours since they last heard from Ned and MJ. Harley arrived from MIT an hour ago, but they still aren’t here and neither one is responding to texts or calls. Hell, he tried to Facetime them and he knows they never decline those when it comes from him.

“What if the reporters got them?” Peter wonders out loud, pacing the floor.

“They would have replied to us anyway,” Wanda answers honestly. 

“I’m sure they’re fine though sweetheart,” Harley tries to soothe. “Look, Loki, Nat, Clint, and Tony went out to find them. I’m sure they’ll turn up soon.”

“Harley is right detský pavúk,” Wanda reassures. “They will find them. Nat and Clint are excellent trackers and no one can evade Loki for long. In the meantime, you need to calm down.” She pulls Peter over to the couch and sits him down. “MJ is fierce and Ned has more inner strength than people give him. I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Like she said darling, it’s going to be okay.”

Peter sighs but lets them put on a show. He’s not really paying attention, his spidey sense is steadily humming in the back of his head, telling him that something’s off or something bad, like bad news, is coming his way soon.

He checks his texts again, but no one’s texted or called him back. Nothing from twitter or tumblr from MJ and Ned either. Aunt May’s still at work probably, it’s almost seven and she doesn’t get off until nine. 

Sighing, he leans into Harley, who tucks an arm around his shoulders. Wanda leans against the other side of Harley.

“Where’s Vision by the way?”

“Oh, they’re on their way to Scotland. They picked up something related to the Mind Stone that they think is in Scotland, so they’re going over there with a couple of the sorcerers under Strange’s command to check it out,” Wanda replies, playing with one of the rings on her fingers. Peter knows she and Vision are thinking about getting married in a year or two. After everything they’ve gone through, it makes sense.

“Nice, when should they be coming back?” Harley asks.

“A couple days, not enough to be a week.” 

The conversation stops there, everybody content to focus on the show and try not to worry, though that doesn’t work well for Peter’s mind, which seems to want to come up with all the bad things that could have happened to MJ and Ned. 

“Something is wrong,” FRIDAY says, breaking any semblance of peace. “I am-” her voice glitches out, as if cut. But no one can cut off her voice, not unless they hacked her. And only Ned, Bruce, or Tony can hack FRIDAY without her stopping them right away. 

“Fri?” Peter asks, shooting up from the couch. “FRIDAY what’s going on?!” No response. “Shit. Karen, Karen come in.” 

Karen’s voice comes through his watch. “I can’t connect to FRIDAY at all, something’s wrong Peter.”

“Uh, Peter?” Wanda says, staring at the TV. “You may want to see this.”

He looks away from his watch to look at the TV. It should be on Netflix, watching Parks and Rec or something, but now it’s scrambled, as if someone is trying to tune it into a station. But that’s not possible, Tony removed that from all the TVs in the Tower.

“I’m calling Tony,” Harley says, grabbing his phone. “What the hell?! No WiFi or bars?! This is the Tower, we always have service. I don’t think we’ve ever _not_ had service.”

The lock down shields fall down, thick metal sheets covering all windows. Metal walls fall down from the ceiling, sealing up the elevator doors and all entrances or exits out of the common room. They’re trapped, there’s no way out. Not even Hulk could bust through these walls, it’d take him him a couple minutes at his best. That’s why Tony had installed them in the Tower, to keep everyone safe. 

Peter’s spidey sense spikes, yelling at him that a threat is coming from the TV. It’s not a physical attack, but he’s worried. His spidey sense has never felt like this besides right before Tony took the infinity stones and snapped. 

The picture clears and the screen is filled by a person dressed in gold armor with green accents and red cloak. And what can only be described as a fish bowl over their head, filled with tainted teal fog. “Hello Spider-man, Scarlet Witch, and Harley Keener.” Their voice is clear, as if it wasn’t coming from the person but was being set over the image of the person. 

“No, no no no no,” Harley mutters as they stare at the screen. They must have been the one to hack FRIDAY because there is no other way for them to know who’s watching. 

“It’s good to see who’s who under the mask huh?” the person says, laughing. “Right Peter and Wanda?”

“They know my name,” Peter says numbly. 

“And we don’t know theirs,” Wanda growls.

“Oh where are my manners? I am Mysterio.” The person on screen does a little bow. “He/him pronouns please kids.”

“Can he hear us?” Harley wonders out loud, glancing around the room.

“Yes Harley, I can hear you. And see you. It’s incredible what one can do when they hack the AI that watches everything,” Mysterio comments.

“What do you want?” Peter asks, trying to regulate his breathing. In for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight.

“Hmm, I don’t think I have any demands as of yet. Though I do believe I had something to tell you, what was it? I know it was something about and boy and girl…”

“No…” Not MJ. Not. Ned. They can’t handle interrogation, hell he’s only gone through the basics. 

“Oh that’s right!” the kidnapper snaps his fingers, as if he remember now. “I have two of your friends. What were their names again.”

“Ned and MJ…” Harley whispers.

“That’s their names!” Mysterio says cheerfully.

“Why do you have them?” Wanda seethes, red magic beginning to form around her. “They’ve done nothing to you.”

“True. But they are close to Mr. Parker over here and well, people who know Spider-man are hard to find. But I didn’t have much trouble.” 

“What do you want?” Peter asks, trying to get a feeling for what he’s after. “If you know who I am, why take them?”

“You are smart, I’m impressed. Very well, since you asked so nicely.” The camera cuts to Ned and MJ tied down to chairs in zip ties and rope. MJ has a few cuts on her face and arms, Ned has a black eye, both their mouths are covered in duct tape. “We want EDITH.”

“We don’t know an Edith,” Harley snarls.

“Of course you don’t,” Mysterio sighs. “Ask Stark, I know he’ll know what I’m talking about. We want EDITH in exchange for these two, or else.”

“Or else what?” Peter asks.

“Or else we’ll release your identity to the public and kill these two. Also publicly. Maybe we’ll even kill Stark. Who knows, we like playing the odds. You have a day to decide Peter.” The camera cuts out and Netflix’s ‘are you still watching?’ button pops up on the screen instead. 

“I am back,” FRIDAY says, with a hint of disgust in her voice. “And I am trying to track where and how someone was able to hack me, however I am having no luck. I am sorry for not keeping you safe.”

“It’s okay Fri,” Peter reassures, “you did your best.”

“WiFi and bars are back,” Harley mutters. “I’m calling Tony.” While he does that, the lock down shields retract, opening the room back up. Peter can feel his spidey sense receding, staying at a low hum but manageable for now.

Peter checks his phone, no one’s texted him. “Karen, you okay?”

“I am fine Peter. I am back to being connected to FRIDAY and the Tower.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Got it.” Harley hangs up and turns to them. “Okay, the old man and the others are heading back here. He told us to get the others up here or to come back to the Tower as soon as possible.”

“Okay, Fri can you alert every Avenger in the Tower to come to the War Room and then send an alert to all Avengers outside the Tower to head to the Tower as soon as they can?” Peter asks. “Don’t send the alert out to any Avengers on missions though.”

“Got it spiderbaby,” FRIDAY says. 

“C’mon gang, I guess we’re heading to the War Room,” Harley says.

“Yay….” Wanda groans. They board the elevator and FRIDAY brings them to the War Room. It’s not much, just a giant conference room with a ton of projections and pop up touch screens. The walls have some standard weapons, guns and two bows with full quivers plus some knives and a sword Loki insisted they keep in the room. If someone with clearance puts their hand to a certain section of the wall, their weapons stored in the room will pop out for them. What takes up the most room is the large table and dozens upon dozens of rolling chairs. 

Everyone has their own chair. It’s an unspoken thing, but everyone knows everyone has their chair. Without a word, the trio take their chairs. Harley sits next to Peter, Wanda across and a couple chairs down from them. 

The first one to come is Bruce. He looks scared, and his eyes are a shade closer to green than normal, but he takes his seat without a question. He’s a few seats ahead of Peter. Steve, Bucky, and Sam come up next. They’re all still in their running clothes, sweat stained but just like Bruce they take their seats silently. Steve sits to the left of the head of the table, then Bucky then Sam. 

Loki appears next, Tony right on his tail. Nat and Clint come in a minute later. All four take their seats. Loki sits on the other side of Peter. Thor would sit in between him and Bruce if he were here. Tony takes the seat next to the chair to the right of the head. Nat takes the head, Clint taking the seat to the right of her. Ever since Thanos, Nat’s taken the head, Fury never sits anyway so it’s fine. 

Thor can’t come, he’s dealing with a rebellion off world and Valkyrie had left to go help him, Carol and her family were off in space doing whatever they did, the Guardians were doing the same, and the Wakadians were usually busy, so this is probably the best they’re getting. 

Tony, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Nat, Clint, Bruce, Loki, Wanda, Harley, and himself. Against a guy named Mysterio who wears a fish bowl on his head and has his best friends and knows his secret identity. 

It’ll be fine.

Right?

“What’s going on?” Steve asks.

“Harley, Wanda, Peter? Care to explain?” Nat asks.

“Right, so MJ and Ned called us three hours ago to tell us that reporters had found my apartment. They were camped out by the building entrance apparently,” Peter explains. “They said they’d head over to the Tower as soon as they checked their buildings.”

“They never got here,” Wanda takes up the story. “We called, texted, we tried everything. So Loki, Nat, Clint, and Tony went out to look for them.”

“A bit after they left, the TV went weird, FRIDAY got hacked, WiFi and service was killed, and the lock down shields went down,” Harley continues. “Then this guy, Mysterio, came on to the screen. He revealed that he was the one who hacked FRIDAY and was watching and listening to us through her. Along with that, he revealed that he knows Peter’s identity. And he kidnapped Ned and MJ.”

“They didn’t look too injured, some cuts and bruises but nothing serious,” Wanda adds.

“And then he threatened us, demanded that we give him Edith, who ever that is, in exchange for MJ and Ned,” Harley says.

“And if we don’t give him Edith, he’ll broadcast himself killing Ned and MJ and tell the world my identity,” Peter finishes.

Nat breathes in, then opens her eyes and focuses on the trio. “How much time do we have?” she asks.

“One day,” Wanda replies.


	25. EDITH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh we are just getting started

“Who’s Edith?” Clint asks. “And why’d he want her?”

“He said EDITH?” Tony asks, ignoring Clint’s question. “Specifically EDITH?” He seems agitated, scared. As if Edith isn’t someone anyone should know about, especially a kidnapper with excellent hacking skills.

“Yeah, said you would know who we were talking about,” Harley replies after a beat.

“Who is she, Dad?” Peter asks. His face is calm but there’s a faint wobble in his voice. Only natural, considering he was just threatened with his best friends’ public execution over someone he doesn’t know.

Tony sighs, running his hand down his face before replying. “EDITH is an AI, that I- that I created. Even Dead I’m The Hero.”

“Nice name,” Loki quips.

“Thanks,” Tony shoots back sarcastically, but with only half the energy he normally uses for their typically banter. “I created her in the event that I died during the Time Heist,” he adds, more seriously. “I wanted Earth to have something if it didn’t go well.”

“What do you mean?” Wanda asks, confused.

“We were fractured, we all thought Bruce was dead, T’Challa has his own kingdom to run, Thor’s usually off world, all that was left was me, Vision, Peter, and Rhodey. But then the Snap happened. And suddenly it was just me, Rhodey, Nat, Steve, and Clint.”

“Plus Wong, Nebula, Rocket, Captain Marvel, Thor, and Scott,” Steve adds.

“Wong has other duties, Nebula, Rocket, Marvel, and Thor had to deal with space, and Scott was out for five months. Not much good,” Tony snaps. “I just- if I, and anyone else, died during the Time Heist, the Earth would be left vulnerable. I had to leave something behind in case something went wrong.”

Loki nods, understanding him. “Understandable, in the context of the situation.”

“What does she do?” Steve asks, though it sounds more like an order. Steve is staring at Tony intensely, and Loki can see Peter shifting in his seat nervously. He knows all about the fallout between Steve and Tony, over the Accords but also over Tony and his want, his need to protect the world, which led to the creation of Ultron that he and Bruce could never have planned for. Steve’s belief that Ultron was a terrible idea, the idea of a mad man, still haunts their friendship. Normally, it doesn’t affect them too much. Loki’s never had any reason to worry that they will tear each other apart. But the tension between them, that gives him reason to worry. And as he can see, it also brings worry to Peter and the others.

“She- well it’s kinda hard to explain her. EDITH is like FRIDAY, but she’s also a global system, as compared to FRIDAY’s more personal system. She’s an augmented reality security and defense system, as she defines herself.”

Nat pulls up a file on the screen in front of her. “Alright, what can EDITH do?”

“So many things,” Tony breathes. “She’s outstanding, her ability to create holograms is just like BARF’s system. She’s less personal and more professional than my other AIs, though. I didn’t have enough time to give her personality, just tech. Like usual, she’s connected to the entire SI network, everything on any SI database is accessible to her like any of the others. The Stark satellite network is run by her-”

“Which is?” Nat interrupts. 

“Couple hundred tactical drones that are outfitted with projectors similar to BARF, two pairs of the Hulk Buster armor, three pairs of my Iron Man armor, and one set of nano tech bots that could become almost any armor set needed,” Tony rattles off. “There may be more, but that’s the main stuff.”

“EDITH is basically Ultron but with more gadgets and power, is what you’re saying,” Clint summarizes coldly.

“She also has access to most companies’ files through backdoors, though that’s strictly if asked and she doesn’t have that ability solely for herself as FRIDAY can do the same,” Tony adds. His face doesn’t change, but Loki picks up on the defensive undertones in his voice, as if challenging the others’ growing dislike for his creation. Loki doubts this is the first time this has happened.

“I have a better understanding, might I add,” FRIDAY cuts in, almost as if she were jealous of EDITH.

Tony, Bruce, Peter, and Harley laugh. “Of course Fri,” Peter says.

“You are a lot better with emotion than EDITH, whether that’s from the years or programming, who’s to say,” Tony comments. 

Steve sighs. “Regardless of emotions, EDITH is very powerful. How did this, Mysterio guy know about her before us?”

“I have no idea,” Tony answers, honest from what Loki can tell. “All info on her is air tight, no one should know about her besides me and FRIDAY.”

“Problem is, someone does know outside of us in this room,” Bucky says. Bucky has always intrigued Loki. He obviously has opinions on EDITH, on how powerful she is, but he doesn’t let it show. He’s neutral, keeping the focus on the main problem at the moment. “And he has MJ and Ned, who have little training and know way too much about us than is safe to have in enemy hands.”

“So the thing is: we can’t hand over EDITH, but we can’t have those two in enemy hands,” Sam sums up. Sam is very similar to Bucky in the way he doesn’t let his beliefs interfere with the mission. He too has opinions, but he seems willing to set them aside to focus on what needs to be done. It may blow up later on, but for now it works. 

“Yep,” Wanda sighs out.

“Well, we’re fucked,” Clint groans.

“Maybe we could fake an exchange, so we get them and Mysterio thinks he has EDITH but he doesn’t?” Peter suggests.

“That could work!” Harley points out. “What holds EDITH anyway?”

“Pair of glasses,” Tony says. “Like my usual ones.” That seems a very easy way to lose a very important AI, but this isn’t exactly the best time or situation to bring that up. Besides, it works in their favor.

“So,” Loki speaks up, “if we just hand over a pair of your glasses and claim it as EDITH, we could take back MJ and Ned and then arrest this Mysterio person.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Sam says.

“Yeah…” Tony stares at the table in contemplation. He doesn’t sound sure of himself, l;ike he normally does. 

“Dad?” Peter asks. “What’s up?”

“The problem is,” he starts, still staring at the table with a frown, “how does Mysterio know about EDITH? I told no one about her, and all things considered I’d say it’s harder to hack her than it is to hack SHIELD or FRIDAY. And any files on her are locked deep inside FRIDAY.”

Bruce speaks for the first time since he got here. “What makes her different from FRIDAY?”

“Not much,” Tony shrugs, “except the control of the capsule in orbit that the drones and everything else is kept in. And her BARF tech.”

“Then why not take FRIDAY? She controls all the blueprints and weapon designs you have, along with your armor and the Tower, arguably more valuable than EDITH. Why not ask to be given FRIDAY? Why EDITH?” He makes a valid point. If EDITH is so high tech, so powerful, and yet almost the exact same as FRIDAY, why go for her? Why not FRIDAY, who has a more valuable appeal to a villain, in his opinion.

It’s silent in the meeting room, no one daring to say a word.

“What if-” Harley starts. “What if it’s because he knows FRIDAY will never be secure from you? FRIDAY is yours, old man. Even if ordered to block you by the person in control, she’d probably find a way around those orders. But EDITH doesn't have that, does she?”

“She will obey every order that comes from the person she’s given too,” Tony sighs out, most likely regretting some of his decisions on EDITH. “I programmed her to only listen to the one I appointed to have her: Peter.” Peter starts at this and stares at him in shock. Loki’s not surprised though, Peter would be one of his top choices too, if he controlled such a powerful tool. “But if Peter ordered her to transfer control to someone else, she would. And he’d no longer have any control over her once that’s been done.”

“If EDITH ever fell into the wrong hands, with the transferred control, we’d be dead,” Bucky states in a calm, detached way.

Steve opens his mouth, as if to begin what will no doubt be a very long, very tiring argument against Tony. “Not important right now,” Nat cuts in before Steve has a chance to start. “We need a pair of glasses that could pass as EDITH and a meeting place. We’re going to get our kids back, then we can argue over whether EDITH should exist and what about her should be changed. Got it?”

“Agreed,” Vision says. Loki hums his agreement idly, already thinking over what he could get away with doing to Mysterio for kidnapping his friends. Stabbing, non lethally of course, could be used with the excuse of self defense... strangulation perhaps not, though. 

With that, everyone else agrees to wait until Mysterio gives them a place and time, and they slowly file out of the conference room, leaving only Loki, Peter, Harley, and Nat in the room.

Loki picks up on Tony’s slight stall of leaving, so that he could leave with Bruce instead of walking out while Steve watches. He sighs. Peter and his friends had filled him in on what had happened, but by the looks of everything when he was brought back from the Soul Stone, he had thought everything was behind the men. Apparently not.

“Nat, what are we going to tell their parents?” Peter whispers, dropping his mask of staying strong, and letting his worry for his friends play out across his face. 

“I don’t know Peter,” she admits softly, slumping in her chair. “Do they know they hang out around us? I mean they must by now, the court case blew any attempt at hiding it out of the park, but how much do they know?”

“How do we tell them that because they are children, they work as interns here, and we enjoy their company, they are now being held ransom for technology that could lay waste to this planet in an instant?” Loki asks rhetorically. They could use a sleepover as an excuse, but it’s a Monday night. He wishes they could get the two back in time for school tomorrow, but that is most likely not happening, not if Mysterio holds all the cards currently.

“There’s no good way of doing it, is there?” Peter asks, leaning into Harley.

“No.” Nat answers honestly, but Loki wishes they could lie to them. Seventeen years old, and they have to deal with this. If the plan doesn’t work, if they can’t keep up the ruse, MJ and Ned will die. And there won’t be a chance to bring them back, not like with Thanos. 

Loki sighs. “If we knew we would be able to get them back soon, we could simply say they’re sleeping over, but chances are we won’t get them back for another day at least…” He watches as both boys’ faces fall at his words. Both knew it, but saying it out loud makes it a lot more real. 

“Don’t worry too much over it guys, me and Loki will handle it,” Nat says. “Go, I bet you both have homework to get done.” 

They sigh, but do leave.

It’s only when the door shuts that Loki allows himself to look Nat in the eye. “What _do_ we say?” he asks her. “We can’t tell them the truth, but it must explain their absence for at least a couple days.”

“I was thinking a sudden intern conference? Up in the country, so they can’t drive home every night, and-”

“-and a conference so they’re really busy and can’t be online due to policies,” Loki finishes. “I like that, but what about the fact that they never signed for it?”

“Add a clause to their intern papers that they are allowed to go to any sudden conferences?”

“That should hopefully work.”


	26. Unknown Factors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did my laptop almost die while I wrote this? Maybe.  
> Does that foreshadow this chapter at all? I don't know, you decide.

Dinner is quieter than usual. Of course, things aren’t exactly normal. Harley can feel the tension between Steve and Tony, and his boyfriend is quiet beside him, something anyone who knew Peter would notice as inherently wrong. Peter is a lively soul, he’s lovable and sweet, he should be talking a mile a minute about the latest science paper he read or Ned’s newest LEGO build or MJ’s recent or coming up protest. He shouldn’t be silently eating his food, robotically moving his fork up and back down while Sam and Clint try to keep a conversation about an old TV show coming to Netflix going. 

“I mean, I remember watching it when I was a little kid,” Sam comments.

“Yeah, can’t believe they’re bringing it back. I mean, how many will watch it though?”

“Probably not many,” Bucky retorts. “Only old people like you.”

“Hey! You’re the oldest out of all of us!” Clint accuses.

“So?”

“So if anyone should be called old, it’s you,” Sam says.

“No it should be you guys, because mentally I’m still thirty,” Bucky rebuts with a smirk.

Sam sighs while Clint rolls his eyes. “Whatever dude, I think it’s cool they’re putting it up anyway,” Sam says.

“I guess. Hey Peter, what do you think?”

Peter shrugs, not looking up from his plate. 

Harley watches as Sam, Bucky, and Clint exchange glances. Wanda and Vision had decided to have dinner together, up in their room, so it’s just those three, Loki, Tony, Steve, Peter, and Harley. Nat was out doing something, none of them knew what, and no one was ready to ask her. 

May arrives in the middle of dinner, making a beeline for Peter. She hugs him tightly, he blinks and hugs her back, not as tightly as he normally does, but it’s better. Eventually she lets go and joins them at the table, sitting between Loki and Harley. 

“Any news?” she asks as she sits down. 

“Nothing,” Steve says.

“So we have to wait for this Mysterio guy to make his move?”

“That’s what it looks to be,” Tony replies, fingering his cup. It’s just water, no alcohol thankfully.

“Well, they’re resourceful kids, and MJ’s strong. They’ll be okay for now, right?” 

“Right,” Loki whispers, definitely not convinced. Silence relapses as no one knows how to respond.

“I heard the weather’s supposed to be nice this week,” May tries.

The conversation picks up after that, Peter interacting again, but Harley knows he’s not talking as much as he used to.

Once dinner’s over, May shares a look with him. They grab Peter by the shoulders and gently steer him to his room. 

“May? Harley? What’re you-”

May plops him on his bed while Harley closes the door and locks it. “We are having a movie night with just us three,” May says, sitting next to him. 

“That’s right,” Harley says, sitting on the other side of Peter. “And you’re not getting out of it,” he adds.

“But-”

“Not but’s,” May interrupts. “I know this is hard. I know having them in danger is the last thing you want, what any of us wants. But there’s nothing we can do right now, Mysterio holds all the cards. Well, almost all of them. Point is, we can’t do anything about it. All we can do is not stress out too much, and be ready to save them as soon as we can. And for that to happen, we need to be relaxed. Harley, if you will do the honors?”

“I would love to. Fri, Bad Chick-Flick playlist, on shuffle!”

“Playing your Bad Chick-Flick movie playlist,” FRIDAY says, Peter’s TV turning on and beginning to play the opening sequence. 

“Seriously guys?” Peter asks.

“What?” Harley says. “You’re not doing well and we all need to relax. Watching bad movies and insulting them is the best way to do that.”

“Yep,” May says, nodding in agreement. 

“I don’t think-”

“Like we said, no way you’re getting out this,” May says, grabbing abandoned blankets. 

Peter sighs, but lays his head on Harley’s shoulder as May tosses the blankets on. He doesn’t do much insulting to the first movie, but by the time the second and third one are playing he’s in the thick of it just like Harley and May. 

“Oh my gosh guys,” Harley says in a very fake high girl’s voice, “you’ll never believe what Brendon did on our date!!”

“No what!?” May and Peter gasp in equally high voices.

“So you know how on our date we were going to walk to the beach?”

“Yeah???”

“Well,” he pauses dramatically, “he stopped, and got down on one knee.”

“Oh my gosh he didn’t!” Peter gasps loudly.

“He did!!!” Harley squeals. “He got down on one knee, and held out a small box in front of me, and then he asked me to marry him!!”

“That’s awesome Kelly!!” May cheers.

“When’s the wedding?!?!?!” Peter shrieks.

“Well, we still have to talk it over, but I was thinking next spring, on a Caribbean island.”

“Oh my gosh!!!”

It starts to cool off during the fourth movie, which admittedly wasn’t the easiest to critic with skits. They mostly just pointed out the flaws in the movie.

“Guess the costumes department couldn’t manage to clean out a stain,” May jokes.

“They do realize that by ripping the heels off of heels, they don’t instantly turn into flats right?” Harley groans. “I’ve tried it, trust me it doesn’t work at all.”

He falls asleep by the fifth movie, prompting Harley to shift him down into a more comfortable position as May has FRIDAY turn down the volume. They watch the fifth movie through, but soon they fall asleep too.

In the morning, Harley slowly wakes up to Peter snoring into his chest and May taking pictures with a smile. “Mornin’,” he yawns out.

“Morning Harls,” May says. 

“You know how Peter is about his hair in pictures May,” he says.

“I’ll send you the pictures if you don’t tell Peter.”

“Deal.”

With that, she checks the time. “I have to go, make sure he gets to school!”

“Will do May, good luck at the hospital.”

“Thanks, text me any updates.”

“Got it.”

With that, she kisses the top of Peter’s head and Harley’s, then leaves. Yawning again, Harley asks FRIDAY what time it is. 

“It is five twenty-seven A.M., currently sixty-five degrees outside with ten miles per hour wind gusts.”

“Thanks Fri, wake us up at six please.”

“Will do.”

So Harley closes his eyes and goes back to sleep, nuzzling his nose into Peter’s coconut-smelling hair. He’d changed conditioners, something about how it was dulling his hair out. Harley didn’t really care about that, only that it made Peter’s hair smell even better than before. 

Then Loki bursts into the room, their green magic swirling around them. 

“Loki!?” 

“Something’s wrong,” they say, looking around. “Get Peter up, we need to go. Now.”

“Got it.” He shakes Peter awake as Loki eyes the walls and door, magic ebbing and flowing around them. “C’mon Peter, something’s wrong.” 

Peter shoots up, looking around wildly. “Harley? Loki? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know but it’s not good,” Harley says, getting out of bed. They’d fallen asleep in their clothes from yesterday and he winces as his legs protest. Never, ever fall asleep in jeans. You will pay for it and your legs will want to murder you. 

“Lokes?”

“The Tower is under attack,” they finally say, still glancing around. “FRIDAY has been turned off and the others are securing the labs. I need to get you two out of here.”

“No, we can fight!” Peter argues. “We’re not just some helpless kids!”

“We can’t risk revealing your identities,” Loki says, opening the door. “Now come along, Tony called a Quinjet for us.”

Harley grabs Peter’s glasses as he follows Loki, he looks back to see Peter close behind, strapping his web shooters onto his wrists. They climb the stairs quickly, the elevators not working due to FRIDAY. If Harley pauses, he can hear the sound of metal on metal and yelling. He chances a look down, trying to see if he spot anything. Peter passes him, then he continues up, having not been able to see anything out of the dark shadows. It’s fall, the sun hasn’t even risen yet, so there’s nothing to light the stairwell. FRIDAY controls the lights too, after all.

“Is Bruce fighting too?” Peter asks Loki as they go.

“I don’t know,” they admit, pausing to also look down. “If he is, the whole Tower could come down.”

“Who would attack the Tower?” Harley questions as they start back up.

“I did not get a good look,” Loki replies. “All I know is that Tony sent me a message to get you two, then FRIDAY shut off and I heard the fighting begin.”

“What about the techs, some of them were coming in early?!” Peter says.

“It’s too risky!” Loki shoots back. “They’ve already breached the lower levels and were getting close to our levels when I went to you, we have to get out now.”

They climb on, as something bugs Harley. Something’s not right, it whispers. Would Loki really act like this? And why would people be attacking at six in the morning? Most of the Avengers were up by then, Tony in his labs, Steve and Bucky and occasionally Sam out running, Nat and Clint probably eating, and Vision never truly slept. It didn’t make any sense…

“Almost there,” Loki calls out. 

“Good, because I was not ready to climb all those stairs like you enhanced people,” Harley says, a flight behind Peter.

“C’mon Harls, you can do it,” Peter cheers slightly before walking through the doorway.

Harley sighs, but makes it up the stairs. He walks out onto the rooftop of the Tower, and doesn’t see either person. “Uh, Peter? Loki? Where are you guys?”

No one replies. He spins around, there’s no Quinjet parked on the pad either. There’s nothing up here.

“Loki?! Peter!?”

“Harley Keener, didn’t anyone tell you to check a person’s real before you follow them?” a voice asks from behind him.

He turns, but no one’s there. “Who’s there?” he calls out.

“I thought you’d recognize my voice, Harley. It’s only been a couple hours!”

This time the voice comes from his right, but again there’s no one there. “Who are you?!”

“Me? Why, I already introduced myself to you Harley, you should know me by now.”

It comes from the left. Harley punches at it, but he doesn’t connect with anything. 

“Oh, valid attempt,” the voice says. “But I’m afraid you’ll never find me if you keep trying to punch air.”

Harley growls, whipping his head around, trying to catch any movement at all. “Then maybe you should come out,” he replies.

“Hmm, tempting, but I’m afraid I have other plans.” Something hits him in the back, knocking him into the concrete. He can feel the scabs on his hands, probably start bleeding soon. “You see, I feel like I didn’t make myself clear enough the first time we met.” Another hit, this one sending him tumbling across the ground. “I don’t like it when people I work with try to double cross me. So,” something grabs his face and wrenches it to face the empty landing pad, “I figured, why not up the stakes?”

The area ripples, then an old model of Quinjet, the ones SHIELD used to have until HYDRA revealed itself, appears. With Peter walking up the ramp, Loki right at the entrance into it and a Harley look-alike walking up behind him. 

“You see,” the voice says, sounding as if it were right next to his ear, “I never took back my control of FRIDAY. I just let you all think I had. So, when I heard you plotting to give me a fake EDITH? I was hurt.” Harley tries to yell, but something closes around his throat, choking him. The voice continues. “Naturally, I decided that if you weren’t going to treat me seriously, I would make it so you would. Peter Parker, he’s a good kid isn’t he? Everyone loves him, he’s family! You think they’ll give me the real EDITH if I threaten his life and the lives of his friends? Because I sure hope you will.” Peter enters the Quinjet, Harley’s look-alike following him in. The Quinjet’s ramp retracts, and it takes off. 

The pressure disappears from his neck. He blindly tries to hit it, but again there’s nothing there. 

“You won’t get away with this!” he yells hoarsely.

“Oh, but I will,” Mysterio says. “I’ll be seeing you Harley!”

He lunges at the where he heard the voice, but there’s nothing there and he falls to the ground, smearing his blood across it.


	27. What Must Be Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moral dilemmas are always so hard, especially when secrets are what weaves the web.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I know this is a couple hours later than I normally publish! Hope you enjoy!

“Harley!” Tony yells, sprinting across the cement. “What happened, where’s Peter?”

Harley sits up, holding his head. He must have hit it when he lunged at the air. When he tried to get Mysterio. “Mysterio happened,” he rasps out, throat sore from both the trying to crush his windpipe and climbing at least twenty flights of stairs. And probably passing out on the rooftop of the Tower. 

“What do you mean, Mysterio happened?” Tony asks, helping him sit up.

“I mean, he somehow has the ability to create illusions because a bit after May left Loki came in talking about how the Tower was under attack and we had to leave. We thought it was really Loki, so we followed him up the stairs to the roof. Mysterio took me out of the illusion and choked me so I wouldn’t be able to yell for Peter, then made me watch as Peter walked into an old HYDRA Quinjet. He said he knew we were planning on duping him with a fake EDITH and that we would give him the real EDITH if he had Peter.”

“He has Peter, then.” Tony’s face screams panic. 

Harley wishes he could lie to him, say that no, everything’s fine. Peter will be fine, that this isn’t happening. But he knows Tony, that wouldn’t do any good. So, he tells the truth. “Yes.”

Now he’s in the War Room, after Tony took him to the Med Bay. He’s fine, bunch of bruising and his hands had to be wrapped up, but no concussion for broken bones. 

Loki sits next to him, arm around his shoulders. Tony’s getting the others, as they had to shut down FRIDAY, at least in the Avengers area of the building. It’s not much, and they know Mysterio will be watching their comings and goings, but it’s something. 

May sits on the other side of Harley, silent but furious. Tony had called her and insisted she come right away. Harley told her what happened when she came in, and she hasn’t said a word since. Much like Peter, her anger changes. It builds, increasing in intensity until it boils over and she erupts in pure, unfiltered furiosity. But it burns out quickly, if she’s loud. It’s terrifying when she’s silent though, because that means she’s planning, scheming, plotting the best way to use her anger to take down the people she’d mad at. If Mysterio ever came near her, he’d be dead, powers or not.

Nat, then Bruce walk in and take their seats. Bruce winces and rubs his throat when he sees Harley’s bruised neck, but neither say a word about May. Wanda and Vision walk in and Wanda hugs Harley and May before taking her seat next to Vision. 

“What’s going on Tony?” Steve asks as he, Bucky, and Tony walk in.

Tony doesn’t reply until he sits down. “Peter’s been taken,” he states. 

“What?!” Bucky yells. “How?!”

“Mysterio,” Harley growls. “He lured us out of bed and on to the roof. He got Peter and beat me up.”

“But how? Didn’t you recognize him?” Nat asks.

“He has illusions, I don’t know if they’re powers or tech or what, but they’re powerful. They looked and acted just like Loki-”

“Loki?” Wanda asks. “How did he manage to get Loki down?”

“I don’t know, but he sounded and acted and looked just like Loki.”

“Perhaps he used FRIDAY’s archives to gather videos of Loki and copied everything he was able to see,” Vision suggests. 

“That would make sense,” Loki says, speaking up for the first time. “However I find it very concerning that he was able to copy me, as Harley said, ‘perfectly’. I’m sorry Anthony but your AI cannot have enough video of me for someone to copy me as well as Harley claims he did.”

The adults keep talking, but Harley thinks back to the interaction. 

He’d waken up not because illusion-Loki touched him, but because of the loud bang the door made when the illusion entered. And then it never touched or got near enough for either of them to touch. And there was something about how the illusion talked, it was…

“I got it!” Harley exclaims, snapping his fingers.

“What?” Loki asks.

“Why it felt off!” 

“What felt off?” Nat asks.

“When Mysterio impersonated Loki, it felt off to me. But I didn’t say anything because, you know, it was six in the morning and the Tower was supposedly under attack and stuff.” 

“So, what was it?” Wanda prompts.

“He didn’t talk like Loki.”

“I beg your pardon?” Loki snaps.

“Like, he sounded like a cross between a gen z and a millennial. But that’s not you. You speak like a cross between a gen z and Shakespeare. Plus,” Harley adds, “you call Tony either Anthony or Stark, but he called him ‘Tony’. Twice.”

“I thought he would call me Stark,” Tony says, surprised. “Why Tony?”

“Maybe he knows you?” Wanda suggests.

“But he’s been one step ahead of us the entire time, why would he slip now?” Steve protests. 

“Maybe he felt that I’m close to Anthony?” Loki says. “As you,” he looks at Tony, “tend to only allow those close to you to use Tony, and he has no doubt observed that I am close to Peter and Harley, so maybe he thought that translated to you as well?”

“We may never know,” Nat sighs. “A more important question is, why did Peter not pick up on it with his spider sense?”

“It does seem crazy that Mysterio choose Peter instead of Harley, from a tactical standpoint,” Bucky admits. “No offense Harley, but you’d be the easiest target besides May to capture.”

“I get it,” Harley says. “I don’t have powers, or a suit. Looking at it, I don’t get why I wasn’t the target either.” 

“What if he was confused because of the time?” Tony asks. “I mean, he never seems to work when it’s before seven so maybe his sense wasn’t calibrated or something?”

“He always picks up on my illusions though,” Loki murmurs. 

“What?” Steve asks.

“My illusions. He always notices them, even when it’s too early for him,” Loki explains. “He can’t see through them, but he always knows when I have one up and sometimes anticipate what’s going on underneath one.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Harley says. 

“I’m getting tired of saying this, but what?” Nat asks.

“If Loki usually has some type of illusion up, maybe Peter picked up on that and assumed it was just Loki being Loki.”

“But hope would Mysterio know about that?” Bucky argues. “He must know about Peter’s spider sense, so why didn’t he do more to prevent that from interfering?”

“Maybe he thought it wouldn’t pick up on illusions?” Vision suggests.

Harley glances over at May. She just sits there, lips pressed tightly together and tension building up in her jaw. “May?” he whispers, ignoring the conversation going on in front of him.

“Harley,” May replies, as if she’s just acknowledging him. 

“What’re you thinking May?”

“Not important Harley.”

“It is if we’re going to get Peter back.”

“Just wait,” she advises. 

“If he has Peter, what are we going to do?” Harley asks the room, interrupting the arguing adults.

“What exactly did he say to you, when Mysterio took Peter?” Steve shoots back,.

“He said, he didn’t like it when people he works with double cross him,” Harley recounts. “He told me he decided to raise the stakes.”

“I assume he’s referring to taking Peter so he now has three hostages,” Vision says. 

“Probably,” Harley sighs. “Then he mentioned that he never gave back control of FRIDAY, he just let us think he had. That’s how he found out about our plan, which prompted him-”

“-to take Peter,” Loki finishes softly, staring off at the wall. 

“Yeah,” Harley replies. “That. Then he said that we’d have to give him the real EDITH, if he held Peter, Ned, and MJ’s life on the line.” 

“We can’t give him the real EDITH though, no matter who’s life is on the line,” Nat says, swallowing thickly.

“What else are we supposed to do?” Harley fires back. “We can’t dupe him, not again.”

“If we give him it, he could destroy the world,” Steve states.

“If we don’t give it to him, they’ll be killed!” Harley yells.

“What if,” Loki interrupts. “We demand to see them before we make the exchange? I could replace them with illusions and take them to safety while you handed over a fake.”

“That could work,” Nat muses.

“What if he picks up on it?” May argues, speaking to the room for the first time. “What if your plan ends with our children dead?” Her voice is steely and cold, very different from the normally easy-going woman they know.

“It- it won’t fail,” Tony says.

“But if it does?” she asks, not backing down. “Who takes the blame? What will you tell MJ and Ned’s parents? Do they even know they’re children are in danger right now?”

No one speaks up. Harley has no idea what they were told, but he knows it wasn’t the truth. He can feel Loki’s tense arm before he replies. 

“We told them they were at a conference,” Loki says.

“Oh, I see. Tell them their children are away but should be back soon. That they’re safe.” She spits it out as if it were on fire in her mouth. “Is that what you would have told me if I didn’t know either?! That Peter was fine, that he decided to go to the conference as well?!”

“May…” Tony says.

“No! When I said he could be your intern, I said that knowing how much he respected you as a person and your company,” May yells, shooting up to stand. “I knew you could be bad for him but I said yes because I trust Peter to know if it got too much for him and I wanted him to be recognized for who he is. And when I found out about his Spider-Man stuff, I wanted to scream. I’ve already lost my sister, my brother-in-law, and my husband! If I lose Peter, I don’t have anyone else to lose. But I accepted it, I didn’t stop him, I supported his decisions. I trusted him to take care of himself, to not die on those streets just like Ben did. I put my trust in you, that you would watch out for him, that you would keep him safe.” Harley can see her nails digging into her palms, but she doesn’t seem to even feel it. “And now look where we are. Ned and MJ, kidnapped and no one but us know. Peter taken from his bed, from this ‘safe’ tower you swore was the safest place for us all, right under your noses. And now Harley looks like he almost died, Peter is with a crazed man none of us know anything about who also has his two friends as leverage against him and us. And you are arguing over whether it’d be safer to let three brilliant kids we all love to be killed on international TV, try to trick someone who has always been two steps again of us, or give a madman a weapon that could kill everyone on the planet with a single order!” 

“What else are we supposed to do?” Wanda asks softly, watching her mournfully. 

“Give their parents the truth!” May yells. “They don’t have to know everything, but they deserve to know something! If I didn’t already know that Peter was Spider-Man, I’d be just like them. What if they do die? Will you be able to look them in the eye and tell them that you lied to them, that because of you their children will never come home? That all that time that they thought their children were learning at some conference, they were being held by someone who was ready to kill them at any time and then were? Are you ready to answer the question of why three teenagers were killed on TV? Because I don’t think you are.” 

She spins around and walks out of the room, no other sound but her footsteps fading away.


	28. Often Leaves Others Hurting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let’s go to Peter. How’s he doing?

The Quinjet was a fake.

Peter should have known as soon as he sensed illusions all around him in the stairwell, he knows Loki’s illusions are almost always around himself rather than others. His spidey sense warned him that something was off, but he thought it was just the fight going on beneath his feet that it was sensing. Little did he know it was referring to the fact that the ‘Loki’ and ‘Harley’ he boarded the Quinjet with were not the real Loki and Harley. They weren’t even real. Nor was the Quinjet one of the ones they used nowadays. It was old, HYDRA-SHIELD time period probably, if he had to guess.

The illusions had fallen when the Quinjet door closed, leaving him in a dark room with what his spidey sense declared dangerous floating objects, drone-like things he guesses. He was then stabbed with a needle and injected with something, and promptly passed out.

Which all leads him here, in a dark cell with three cement walls and one reinforced glass or plastic wall, cold cement floor and what he assumes is a cement ceiling, just a thin mat of foam and plastic to serve as a bed, and a small button that when pushed, will uncover or cover a hole he assumes is to be used as a toilet. Great.

His senses aren’t blocked, which would be good except they can’t stop picking up tiny sounds or yelling at him that he’s not safe, wherever he is.

As far as he can tell though, there aren’t any chains or cuffs or restraints put on him. His first instinct is that it’s a good thing, not restraints means he’s less imprisoned. However, the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes how bad that could be.

No restraints mean they don’t think they’ll need to restrain him. Normally that’d signal that they’re dumb kidnappers, but they knew he was Spider-Man, they got into the Tower, they have HYDRA equipment, they created perfect illusions. There is no way they’d be that stupid, after such an intricate plan. 

That means they either won’t be moving him from this cell, or they don’t need restraints to keep him in line. 

Peter doesn’t know which option is worse.

The room is roughly eight of his footsteps, heel to toe, by eight of his footsteps, also heel to toe. He has no idea how many feet that is, but he can lay down and not touch the walls. Almost, but not quite. The bed thing is about the same length of the wall, and is against on of the cement walls. The hole is in the corner of two of the cement walls, opposite the head of the bed. 

He doesn’t know if he could stand staying in the cell, with no light, for long. He literally walked the inside of his cell out already and it’s probably only been twenty minutes!

Probably, because although his watch does have a ‘in the dark’ feature which he calls the glow in the dark feature, although Tony hates it when he calls it that, his watch isn’t on his wrist. Nor are his glasses with him at all. His phone isn’t with him either, which means not only did they take anything they saw on him, they searched his pockets. Makes sense, considering what they’ve done so far, but still. It’s rude.

His thoughts turn to Ned and MJ. Were they captured by illusions too? Were they in cells just like him? Was Mysterio his capturer? And how did he manage to land an old Quinjet on the Tower and get into the Tower? FRIDAY should have stopped him-

Oh. FRIDAY.

Mysterio had control of her when he first talked to them, and while FRIDAY said he was gone from her system, he could have been hiding inside of her wiring, listening to them and plotting what to do in response. It would explain how he got into the Tower, he just used FRIDAY to let him in. 

He sighs and glances around. It’s pointless, there is absolutely no light to be found, but he’s so used to doing it when there is light or when he’s in his room that he can’t help it. 

It’s actually kinda impressive how his capturers managed to have no light in the area at all. There must be lights, at least outside of his cell, where he assumes a hallway or some kind of area for his capturers to stand in front of him probably is. And the thing with lights is that, if you have them on then turn they off, if you look closely there is some residual light that hums around it for a bit. It’s very weak light, but it’s there. So for the entire area to be completely devoid of light means that either the glass wall is too thick for the weak light to register, or the lights have been off for a while.

Both make sense, but the last one lines up with the whole stabbing him with a needle and injecting something into him that made him collapse and go unconscious for a bit. He woke up in here with no light so it would make sense that he had been transported to here, where ever here is, while unconscious, searched, then placed in this cell at least an hour or two before he woke up. 

Of course, it’s also impressive and very terrifying that his capturers were able to inject him with a strong enough sedative to knock him out and keep him out for so long. Due to his enhanced metabolism, any sedative or pain medication or really any medication went through him and worked, but for half of the time it normally would. Bruce had worked with him to run tests and see just how his new metabolism worked compared to Steve and Bucky, who also had an increased metabolism. They found that his was a step or two below Steve and Bucky’s metabolism. He could get drunk, but it would take extreme amounts of alcohol. He could take medication meant for a normal person, but it wouldn’t last long. So, they and the people of the Med Bay worked out medication specifically for him. Less potent than Steve and Bucky’s, but stronger than the average person’s.

But it had taken them months of trials, most done by computer simulation due to the unknown side effects him. His capturers, whoever they may be, could not have managed to do the same. Not unless they knew exactly what to do, but even then it would take tons of money to make some.

Unless they didn’t make it themselves.

Unless they stole some from the Med Bay. 

Unless they not only took him, but took medication to better keep him down.

To better control him.

Something changes in the area.

The faintest sound of footsteps, coming his way. They’re muffled by walls, but he can sense that they’re coming from the opposite wall from his bed and moving towards him. His spidey sense warns him that whoever is coming is dangerous, extremely dangerous. No weapons, not that it can tell, but dangerous. 

Peter moves to sit in the middle of the room, facing the glass wall. He waits and listens, focusing on what his senses can tell him.

A small sound, metal pushing back into a metal holding place. Probably a metal door, opening to let the approaching person in.

The footsteps get slightly louder as they come closer.

Something changes in the footsteps’ sound. A change from metal flooring to cement flooring. Interesting, considering cement would be easier to use as flooring. 

Again, the sound of a metal door sliding back into its holding to allow the person to approach. This time though, he can hear the door closing behind the person. 

Judging from the way the steps sound, the person is most likely less than a football field away, though by how much Peter has no idea. 

Lights snap on, Peter instantly closing his eyes in pain. It’s bright, way too bright for his eyes, now used to the complete darkness, to accept right away. He slowly relaxes his eyelids, letting the light filter in from behind them.

Doors open and close again, and now the person is in the same hallway as Peter’s cell. He can tell the person is still far away from him, so he cracks open one eye. The footsteps don’t stop, and keep coming. He opens his other eye and blinks, getting used to the light. As he thought, his cell is gray cement, with a cement ceiling. His bed thing is black and the small button is red. The glass in front of him is clear, thankfully, it would be annoying if it were a one way mirror instead.

Outside his cell, he can see an exact copy of his cell, with a hallway between them. The cell is empty, which he expected. No one else was in the area but him, and now the person walking towards him.

Immediately, he recognizes Mysterio. A fishbowl-like helmet thing over where his head probably is, sea green fish scale fabric underneath bronze armor with electric blue veins, and a flowing red cape. It’s hard not to recognize him, honestly.

Mysterio stops in front of his cell, appearing to stare down at him. 

“So, you’re the one who kidnapped me,” Peter says.

Mysterio does a dramatic bow. “Yes I did.” His voice echoes slightly from inside the helmet, different from how it sounded in the Tower.

“Why me?” he asks, both digging for information and genuinely wanting to know. “You have MJ and Ned, why me as well?”

“Well you see,” Mysterio says, “I hate it when people I work with try to double cross me. So, naturally, when I heard you were planning on tricking me, I was hurt. And since threatening two civilians’ lives apparently didn’t hit them as being important enough to actually listen to my demands and follow them, I thought I’d up the stakes.”

“So you took me.”

“So I took Peter Parker, personal intern to Tony Stark, loved by everyone. And also, conveniently, Spider-Man. Two for one, right? Take someone they all love, and also someone with a real impact in the world, the neighborhood’s hero.”

“You’ll let innocent people get hurt and killed, just so you can make a point to the Avengers that they have to hand over EDITH?”

Mysterio chuckles. “So bleak! Besides, the blood’s not on my hands, it’s on the hands of every single person who decides to do that. I’m simply taking away the factor that usually is there to stop that from happening.”

“The blood is still on your hands,” Peter argues, tensing up. He doesn’t want to show how anger he is, that’ll give Mysterio something over him, but he can’t let him act as if all those lives aren’t in danger. “It’s passive harm, but you’re still part of it.”

“Hmm, if anything I’d think the blood would be on the Avengers’ hands,” Mysterio muses. “After all, you’re the one who stops it. You’re the one who keeps the people safe. But now, you’re not there. You can’t stop them, you can’t save them. All because the Avengers tried to trick me.They’re the reason I had to kidnap you, they’re the reason I had to threaten to kill all three of you on international news.”

Peter can’t help but shiver at his words, spoken so casually, as if talking about the weather instead of publicly killing teens on TV. “Where are Ned and MJ?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Oh, them? Oh they’re fine. In cells much like yours actually.”

“Are they alright?”

“If you mean unharmed, then yes. Though Miss Jones, she’s a fierce one. It took a couple tries, but she’s in handcuffs and the two are sitting calmly in their cells now.”

Something’s not right, MJ wouldn’t let them handcuff her. “What do you mean, a ‘couple’ tries?” he asks, not sure if he’ll like the answer but needing it all the same. “What did you do to my friends?”

“Oh, that.” Mysterio laughs a little. “You see, she wasn’t cooperating as well as Mr. Leeds was, so we had to uh, _persuade_ her to.”

“What do you mean, ‘persuade’?” Peter asks, fighting to stay seated and not try to punch Mysterio. 

“This may come as a shock to you Mr. Parker, but I’m not a cutesy little villain from a TV show.”

Peter stands up, and walks until he’s almost touching the glass. “What, did you do to my friends?”

He laughs, echoing coldly through the empty cells. “We shocked Mr. Leeds a couple times. Nothing lethal, no permanent damage either, but enough to persuade Miss Jones.”

Every cell in his body begs him to punch the glass, but he can’t. He can feel himself practically vibrating with anger, but he can’t make a move. Not now, not when Mysterio already has so much to hold over him. 

So, he steps back, muscles tense. He moves back to the middle of his cell and sits down, getting into a meditation position Bruce taught him. 

Mysterio laughs again. “Aw man, I thought I was going to see your strength in action! Ah well, guess they trained you well Mr. Parker. I’ll be seeing you later.” With that, he leaves, footsteps sounding all the way down the hallway. 

And Peter seethes silently, mind racing to find a way out.


	29. Reuniting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We haven't heard from MJ, how's she doing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you get when you up three gen z kids in a deadly situation?

Constantly having the lights on is seriously driving her insane right now. Sure, she could talk to Ned, but that’s about it. Conversation can’t really help when it’s probably been about a day, most of that spent unconscious, being electrocuted, and handcuffed. And Ned is either unconscious or sleeping, but she doesn’t want to bother him anyway. He was electrocuted the most and this isn’t exactly something he used to. Though, MJ isn’t used to it either, but she at least had some basic training, Ned has what he’s learned from watching movies and some stuff he’s picked up from Peter and her, that’s it.

Also, some dude named Mysterio who likes wearing fish bowls on his head and capes really enjoys taunting them in both passive aggressive and just plain aggressive ways. She never knew someone could be so annoying and yet so clever, besides Harley. 

She assumes he’s at least semi-clever, considering he got them in bright daylight, knew she’d be the one to fight the most and insisted she get handcuffed, and has a pretty sophisticated set up for holding prisoners. Gray cement walls, one that’s glass or plastic, a thin foam bed thing, and a toilet hole. Not the most sanitary of toilets, but she can deal for now. Ned’s cell is opposite her’s, same set up. Mysterio, and whoever workers with him, took their phones, watches, and everything that could have been useful to help them escape with. Even her backup bobby pins were taken, and she keeps those sewn into her clothing!

Mysterio did mention that they were being held to get the Avengers to turn over someone called Edith, which doesn’t even make sense. As far as she knows, no one named Edith works at SI, at least in Pepper’s department there isn’t. And of course, the million dollar question: why them? Why two teens, instead of a higher-up SI employee or an Avenger or Edith herself?

She sighs and rolls her eyes. Kidnappers, they never see the obvious solutions.

The door at the end of the hallway slides open, and people in black walk in. Their faces are covered, which bodes well for her and Ned. If kidnappers let you see their face, you’re not coming out alive. If they don’t, there’s a chance you’ll make it. She hasn’t told Ned yet, she knows this is far from over and if he doesn’t already know, it’s not wise to give him hope for it all to be destroyed. Not after the Snap, not after how badly he fell after they learned Peter didn’t survive.

The people stop at Ned’s cell first. One pushes some buttons and the glass wall retracts into the wall. Two go in and grab Ned, who wakes up and stands. They manhandle him out of the cell, to stand to the side as another pulls out a gun and holds it to his head. The same one that opened Ned’s cell presses buttons by her cell. The last two stare at her and she gets up, moving out of the cell to stand next to Ned. They don’t even need to manhandle her like Ned and she hates it. Just by holding a gun to Ned, they know exactly what they have. She’s handcuffed and Ned’s life is on the line. They know that she can’t disobey them, they know she won’t risk Ned’s life.They know, and she hates that, hates that she is powerless in this.

After closing their cells, the person leads them out of the hallway, people surrounding her and Ned as they walk, a gun still pointed at Ned’s head. The kidnappers lead them down winding hallways lined with empty cells, each block about six or eight cells, every hallway beginning and ending with doors that have to be opened. They all look the same as the ones they were just in, which is why the kidnappers moving them seems odd. Plus, the walk is slow, with every door having to be opened, though she can admire how secure it is while at the same time cursing it because how are they going to get out of this now?

Doors open yet again, but this time it’s different. Mysterio stands in the middle of the hallway, in front of a cell. The group approaches him, and he turns to them. “Welcome, welcome! I figured it’d be nice to have the gang together, and so Mr. Parker could see that you’re both unharmed!”

Peter?

Peter?!

“Ned?!” Peter yells out, inside the cell they’re in front of. “MJ?!”

“Peter!” MJ and Ned yell. 

“Now then, guards, would you be so kind as to lead these two to their new cells?” The guards say nothing, but they put Ned into the cell across from Peter and MJ in the cell next to Ned. The glass comes back and closes them off, and the guards leave. “Now that we’re all cozy in your little cells, let’s catch you all up to speed!” Mysterio says cheerfully, very much at odds with the situation.

“Not cozy, are they?” Peter quips sullenly.

Mysterio ignores him. “As you all know, I captured Mr. Leeds and Miss Jones yesterday, Monday, at around five o’clock. I proposed a very simple, easy exchange to the Avengers: give me Tony’s little secrete AI called EDITH and I’ll give them Leeds and Jones back. Refuse, and I would kill both, live, on international news. But, sadly, they decided to try to trick me! So naturally, I had to up the stakes. Luckily, Mr. Parker here was perfect for the job. Spider-Man,” he knows..., “and someone in the news recently, really I couldn’t have chosen a better person to capture. So I captured him this morning, Tuesday, right from his bed no less! Now, I do believe they will listen to my demands, after all, killing three teens and revealing the identity of Spider-Man seems a reasonable threat.”

How the hell did he manage to get Peter, with all his spider senses and inside the Tower, not to mention Harley, who normally sleeps next to Peter or is nearby? That shouldn’t be possible...

“What is it about this EDITH that makes it worth taking us?” Ned asks. 

“I’m glad you asked!” Mysterio says, clapping his hands together. “As it happens, she controls the Stark satellite system and the augmented reality the drones of the Stark satellite system have in them. She’s quite the piece of power, EDITH.”

“But why her?” Peter asks. “I know you already have illusion tech, why do you need her?”

“True, true. I do have illusion tech, on par with EDITH’s tech in fact! But she has much more drones than I do, plus it’s always nice to have control over one’s own inventions, just because. It wouldn’t do for Tony and the world to benefit from my inventions without me in control of it now would it?”

“What?” 

He laughs. “Oh you don’t know? I was the one who created BARF’s tech, I was the one who made such a breakthrough! But, when I showed it to Tony, what did he do? He turned it into a therapy tool and renamed it BARF. My world changing technology, technology that could change modern warfare forever, used to treat mental illness and named after vomit. And then,” he yells, “to add insult to injury, when I went to confront him, he claimed I was crazy and fired me! For wanting to use it as a weapon! As Stark Industries has been doing for decades now!” He sighs, as if to calm himself down from the seething rant he just pulled. “But that’s all about to be corrected, because as soon as I get my tech back, plus a little more because EDITH is loaded with power, Tony’ll get to see what he skipped out on when he discarded my idea.” Mysterio sweeps out of the room with a dramatic cape swish and the door shuts behind him.

“So was that overly dramatic or is it just me?” MJ says, leaning against the glass. 

“Yeah I think it was a bit over the top,” Peter says. 

“He mentioned that EDITH was powerful too much, he needs to tone that down,” Ned comments. “I mean like, dude, we heard you the first time. Chill out.”

MJ laughs. “So I think it’s true that us gen z kids really have zero self-preservation because we are literally locked up in cells, by a guy who wants to murder people, critiquing his evil villain speech, even though there are definitely cameras watching and recording us right now.” 

A beat, then Peter and Ned say in sync, “Yep,m” and they all dissolve into laughter. 

“Gen z at its finest,” Peter says.

“Next thing you know we’ll be asking for one last Capri Sun before our death,” Ned giggles out.

“And of course, that ‘Mmm Whatcha Say’ plays after we die,” Peter adds.

“I hope they play Kahoot at my funeral so everyone has a chance of winning my stuff,” MJ drawls. 

“Oh, whatever shall I do though?” Peter fake cries out. “If I die, I’ll leave behind a grieving widow!”

“Poor grieving widow Harley,” Ned agrees mournfully. “What will he do with his life, after you?”

“His life will be so empty, without you,” MJ chimes in. “He’ll wander his fifty acre European estate, crying as the wind blows his perfectly styled hair into a beautiful portrayal of grief.”

“Oh Harley,” Peter wails dramatically, “I’m so sorry my love, for leaving you alone with more riches than you could ever hope to use and giant estates for you to wander mournfully in the rain, with the rain masking your tears!”

“Truly, a terrible loss,” Ned sniffs, miming wiping a tear away from his eye. “I can see the obituary now. Peter Parker, killed by a guy wearing a fishbowl on his head, on national-”

“International,” MJ corrects.

“Ah, my apologies, INTER-national television. He leaves behind countless aunts and uncles, one or two dads-”

“One or two dads?” Peter asks.

“Yeah, Mister Stark and then everyone else sometimes acts like your dad so I just shortened it to one or two.”

“Oh that makes sense.”

“Thank you. -a couple moms, around three siblings, a devastated Decathlon team,”

“Aww you think they’d be devastated?”

“-an emotional unstable and possibly depressed teacher,”

“We have got to get that man a therapist,” MJ interjects.

“-and a widow.” 

“You know, I wonder what suit Harley would wear to my death party,” Peter says.

“I have no idea, but Harley would look awesome in a black lace veil,” MJ comments.

“He would,” Peter agrees.

“Peter was a fine young man, an personal intern for Anthony Stark-”

“Oh he’d hate being called that,” Peter snorts.

“-Spider-Man, though many called it his fursona-”

Peter collapses to the ground laughing as MJ cheers. “Ha! I told you Parker, it is such a fursona!”

“-and family to the Avengers. He was an all A student at Midtown Tech-”

“Well, until now,” Peter quips.

“Shhhh, this is beautiful.”

“-and his teachers loved him dearly.”

“Say that to the lady who slapped me!” Peter yells, pumping a fist in the air. 

“As his legal guardian and aunt, a May Parker, told us, ‘Peter was such a good kid, I can’t believe he was killed by a crazy guy wearing a fish bowl’.”

They erupt into laughter, Peter shaking on the floor of his cell. “Sad part is, she’d probably say that,” MJ says.

“His funeral will be open casket, only family and close friends allowed in. The End,” Ned finishes with a flourish.

“That was so moving,” MJ sniffs. “It felt so real, and personal, and true.”

“Thank you, thank you, only the best for Peter.”

“Please, if somehow you two get out alive and I don’t, I need you to make sure they serve Capri Suns at the party, and that you give every guest sixty-nine cents but the chicken nuggets cost a dollar.” 

“Bro that is the best thing ever,” Ned laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get around 800 words of memes and joking around of course!


	30. Demands and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the rescue party.

It is either by luck or the worst of fate that Loki finds herself in the room when Mysterio interrupts the TV show to his live feed. Probably the worst of fate, she thinks, looking over at May and Harley who are sitting next to her, Wanda on her other side.

“Hello everyone!” Mysterio says, cheerful as ever.

“Mysterio,” May growls, beginning to stand but Loki blocks her movement, knowing that would only let Mysterio know how much power he holds over them. And while he does hold a lot over them and no doubt knows that, it isn’t wise to let him know to what extent that goes.

“What do you want?” Loki asks coldly. 

“Loki Loki Loki, so harsh! I think you should be honored, after all I used your image to trick the boys. So many people I could have picked, so many that would have been easier, but I choose you! And it worked so well too...”

“You took my friends from their bed and stole Peter from us,” Loki states. “Honored is hardly the word I’d use. More like, disgusted.”

“Oh, you hurt me,” Mysterio laughs.

“Good,” Wanda snarls, accent thick as her anger builds. Her accent always comes out more when her emotions build, but no red magic appears which means she understands that she can’t let him see how affected she is.

“Pleasure seeing you again Miss Maximoff, I’m surprised though, I thought your boy-”

“My _partner_ ,” Wanda cuts him off, “is off on a mission.”

“Ah, my apologies, there wasn’t anything on their profile so I was forced to assume.” Loki loathes to admit it, but she does appreciate that, while vile and wicked, at least Mysterio is very respectful of pronouns and accepting of gender. Villains may be villains, but showing respect towards uncontrollable identity never hurts.

“Well remind me to update their profile on the web,” Wanda snaps back. 

“I do recommend it,” Mysterio comments calmly, as if he didn’t pick up on Wanda’s sarcasm, “I hate being disrespectful to my co-workers.”

“We,” Harley says, “are _not_ ‘co-workers’.”

“Hello Mr. Keener, still mad at me about that little stunt?” 

“You impersonated my friend, captured my boyfriend, and beat me up. That is not some ‘little stunt’. If you didn’t have them-”

“You’d what? Kill me?” Mysterio throws his head back in laughter, echoing cooly through his fish bowl. “Mr. Keener, you have no idea where I am. I hold your friends and boyfriend’s lives in my hand. You have no power to speak of, outside of your human abilities which, newsflash, I hold as well. Please, _do_ tell me how you intend to kill me.”

Harley opens his mouth but Loki’s quicker, pushing past May to hold Harley back under an illusion. “Mysterio, what do you want?” she asks, feigning calm.

“Me? Oh, not much, simply EDITH.”

“We’re well aware of that,” Loki drawls. “What I mean is: what is your purpose for calling on us?”

“Hmm? Oh that. Well, as you know, we will need to exchange EDITH and my guests at some point.” May bristles at the mention of ‘guests’ but thankfully makes no comment. “And you don’t even know when or where we’ll be exchanging everyone, a grave mistake on my part sadly. But, I’m here to correct that mistake today. We will exchange EDITH for Miss Jones, Mr. Leeds, and Mr. Parker at London Bridge, yes the one in Britain, at, oh, how does eleven thirty tomorrow night sound? Local time, naturally.”

“London?” May whispers, shock crashing like waves across her face that Loki’s feelings reflect. She assumed Mysterio was in the USA, but Britain? That never occurred to her.

“Hmm, you know what? It’s five o’clock in New York, only ten o’clock in London, so let’s make that eleven thirty tonight. Now you have an hour thirty, plenty of time wouldn’t you say?” With that, Mysterio’s feed cuts off and Netflix asks them if they’re still watching.

Loki can feel everything shifting underneath her. Tomorrow night, they could have had a plan. They could have debated amongst each other, they could have an idea of what exactly they needed to do and to prepare, to know who they would take with them. Tonight, tonight meant they had to come up with a plan as they fly, he can’t teleport everyone safely, not without the Tesseract. Tonight means they need to call all Avengers in the Tower, not everyone in the area, and leave now. Tonight means they may not be able to turn over a decoy or ask MJ and Ned’s parents what they should do, they just have to follow Mysterio’s orders. 

“London?” May whispers. “How- why would he choose London?”

“He knows we cannot make a big deal out of it,” Wanda murmurs.

“We would need UN approval to do anything drastic,” Loki whispers to herself. “Even without the Accords, it would spark global tension and we could be detained.

“And then we wouldn’t meet our deadline, and they wouldn’t approve of it in enough time at all,” Harley adds quietly. 

“I’ll call Tony,” May says, grabbing her phone.

“I’ll get the jet prepped,” Harley snarls, rushing out of the room. 

“FRIDAY, tell all Avengers in the Tower to report to the Quinjet now,” Wanda orders, going into the elevator, red magic swirling around her fingers.

Loki snaps her fingers and summons her battle armor, quickly building up a mental list of weapons she’ll want. “May?” May turns to her, Tony off the line already. “I need you to alert the Med Bay that we may receive injured within the next two hours.”

“You don’t think-”

“I don’t know what may happen, May, but I swear by Asgard, I will do everything in my power to return them home safely.”

“Please,” May says. “Promise me you wouldn’t leave until you have all three of them.”

“I swear,” Loki replies, sweeping out of the room. She debates taking the elevator or stairs but teleporting will get her there faster. Faster means less time spent waiting and more time for them to be flying to London, more time to get a plan together, more time to come up with a way to save her friends.

The Quinjet is on the pad, Harley watching the fuel link while Wanda seems to be briefing Anthony and Bruce, the only ones there. “Is this it?” Loki asks, making her way over. 

Wanda sighs but nods. “Steve and Bucky are out in Brooklyn, Sam’s at work, Nat’s working to contact Clint and update him on what’s happened, and we can’t get to Fury at all, same with anyone else. This is all we have.” 

Loki curses under her breath in Asgardian, wishing she could ask Heimdall to look for them, but he is busy with her duties while Thor and Valkyrie diffuse the rebellion and she’s here. “Alright,” she says, refocusing on the group. “We have limited warriors, but we can make this work. Anthony, do you have her?”

“Yeah,” he replies grimly, holding up a pair of glasses. To the normal human eye, it would no doubt look like a normal pair of glasses, however Loki can detect the slight glare of electronic light in the lenses and, if she focuses her hearing, can pick up the faint sound of currents running through the frames. 

“Harley?” she calls out, turning halfway to see Harley. “Is the ship ready?”

“It’s ready,” Harley confirms, unplugging the fuel link and letting it slither back into its holding cell in the roof. The ramp opens, and he boards. 

“We will discuss the plan on the way there,” Wanda decides, walking to the Quinjet, Loki falling into step with her. 

“Come,” she calls over her shoulder to the two behind them, “we have wasted too much time already.”

Anthony takes his seat as pilot and, after confirming that everyone is in the Quinjet, rises the ramp and takes off, flying as fast as they can towards Britain. Once their course is set, he turns to face the group. Wanda sits on Loki’s right side, Harley on Loki’s left side. Bruce sits in the seat across from Loki, nervously cleaning his glasses. Loki’s sorry the poor man has to come with them, and hopes to any of the beings out there that Bruce will not be forced to turn into the Hulk. The man has been through enough as is; besides, she does not want to see the city she spent many years of the sixteenth and seventeenth century in being wrecked by her friend. 

“We can’t give him the real EDITH,” Anthony says, breaking the relative silence of contemplation. “She’s too powerful and he’s too much of a psychopath.”

“Finally you use the word correctly,” Loki mutters. 

“Excuse me?”

“A psychopath is one who acts with a plan, they are cold and deadly. More often, one means to use the term sociopath, one who is aggressive and hot-headed, who has no plan. Mysterio, he has a plan. He is in control, he may act warm but is very, very cold mentally,” Loki explains. “He knows exactly what he was doing when he took them, he planned on taking Peter, he knew we were planning on tricking him, he knew Harley and Peter would trust me, he knew what he was doing when he left those marks on Harley’s neck.” The sickly yellow and blue and purple ring his neck, barely beginning to fade even hours after they were inflicted. They mock Loki, gloating that Mysterio was able to infiltrate her second home so easily, tricking her friends with her image, hurting Harley while Peter was taken.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Bruce asks, fiddling with his hands. “We can’t give him EDITH, but we have to give him something so the kids are safe. Do- do we even know if he’ll release them to us after we hand over EDITH?”

“We have no guarantee,” Loki admits softly.

“Which means we have to be ready to take them by force, if needed,” Wanda argues. “I refuse to lose another brother,” she whispers, so lowly Loki doubts anyone but herself hears it.

“But again, we need something that will pass as EDITH, at least long enough for him to do a test run, give us the kids, and leave,” Anthony says.

“Preferably something traceable,” Bruce adds. “We don’t want to let that psycho out on the loose with EDITH.”

“He’s already shown he can hack and track extremely well,” Harley counters. “If we make it traceable, he’ll just disable it or play games with us. We need something that he can’t shield himself from.”

Not technology, Loki muses, as the three scientists start discussing ways they could do it. Mysterio has proven himself in the technology ring. Magic could work, except it would react badly with any technology Mysterio has on himself, which is highly likely. Magic and complex technology never work well together, sometimes it works with minimum defects, and other times it blows everything up. Quite violently. But... a tracking spell done by tracking his movements instead of latching onto Mysterio himself could work.

“I could track him,” Loki decides, interrupting the argument between Anthony, Harley, and Bruce. 

“What?” Harley asks.

“I could track him, but I’d need a piece of hair or a treasured object of his to complete the spell,” Loki explains. 

“How the hell are we going to get that?” Harley asks. “The guy wears a fish bowl over his head and we have no idea who he really is underneath that.”

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the best I could do,” Loki says. “I can’t attach a spell to him, the amount of technology he keeps around him would ruin the spell. Perhaps you could convince him to take over his bowl and I could steal a hair, or five. But what about EDITH?”

“I think I’m going to water her down, restrict her power. Enough so that it doesn’t make him basically unstoppable, but not enough that it tips him off that we took away most of her power,” Anthony says. 

“How long will it take you?” Harley asks. 

“Twenty or thirty minutes,” Anthony guesses. 

“Good,” Wanda says, staring out of the front window, “because we’re close.”

Loki glances out, and sees the light slowly fading from the sky, as they speed towards night. The computer tracking their route says they have thirty minutes left until they’re there. “Anthony, I recommend you begin now.”

“Right,” Antony agrees, moving off into one of the small rooms adjacent to the main area. 

“Now, Bruce,” Loki says, focusing her attention to Bruce. “Do you want to be out there, or do you want to stay on the Quinjet?”

“I’d love to be with the kids, but from a safety standpoint I’m going to stay here. Me and the big guy are good, but he may break out if he sees a need and I don’t think London’s prepared for that.”

“Bruce, calling him by his name is okay.” Bruce freezes as Loki smiles at him. “We often do not want to name someone or something out of fear of the power of a name, but using it also makes it normal. The Hulk is part of you, and you him. Don’t be afraid to claim him as such.”


	31. All’s Fair In Trade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Separation is always hard, but electrocution makes it downright painful.

Mysterio comes back to their cell area about two hours after he left. Not much had happened since then, just some dark jokes, reminding each other where to find their will in cryptic ways, and some recounting of what happened since MJ and Ned got taken. 

“Wait, so Mr. Stark has a super powerful AI, and never mentioned it to anyone?” Ned asks.

“Apparently,” Peter replies as the metal doors open and Mysterio walks in. “Ah the man of the hour!”

“Oi! Fish bowl bitch!” MJ calls out, tired of him appearing and disappearing without any action. This is starting to edge past time for a deal to be made. “Have you remembered to ransom us or are we being experimented on until we become immortal assassins who fourth-wall-break every five minutes?”

Mysterio sighs and gestures behind him, where ten people in black wait. “Guards, if you please.”

MJ sobers up quickly, shooting worried glances at Ned as first he, then she is taken from their cells. Two guards each take one of her biceps into their tight hold, doing the same to Ned. Peter stays in his cell as the other guards surround her and Ned. “Wait, Peter!”

“Oh I’m sorry, but Mr. Parker’s not coming with us today. He’s my insurance policy. After all, once someone has tried to double cross you, you know they will try to do it again and again and again. So, I need to make sure that doesn’t happen again with us,” Mysterio informs them with glee. 

“Peter!” Ned yells, starting to struggle against the guards’ holds, MJ trying to remember what the code they used to open the cell door as she tenses her muscles, waiting for the moment to make her move. 

But it never comes. Electricity courses through her nerves, the guards’ hold staying just as tight as she writhes and screams through the burning feeling invading her every sense, no matter how she twists and moves the burn refusing to leave. She can’t stop herself from dropping, the only thing keeping her upright are the guards. She numbly notes that their gloves must be rubber or some other insulator that keeps them safe from completing the circuit to them. 

“I wouldn’t try that,” Mysterio says, voice muffled a little. “That was a warning. The next one wouldn’t be so kind.”

“Is sh okay?” Peter asks. He sounds scared, not like her fluff ball of a friend he should sound like.

“Oh her pain receptors are probably a bit fried and it did nothing for her hair, but she’ll survive this one,” Mysterio replies ominously. “Come along now, wouldn’t want to keep me waiting.”

The guards begin moving, MJ having to fight to keep her legs underneath her. She never thought it would feel like this, like her muscles are jelly and she can’t feel anything. Like when her foot goes numb and she can’t feel it for a bit, but like her entire body. 

It starts to wear off the longer she walks, or more accurately, is dragged with stumbling steps down a cement hallway. No one speaks, it’s silent as they almost march to wherever they’re supposed to be. They move through multiple metal doors, down so many empty cell blocks they just came from, then yet another pair of doors open to a metal catwalk usually found in warehouses. It clangs with every step and shifts as they move across it. The metal is painted black, no rust on the railing, though the metal grate that creates the place to step looks worn. Many people walk or have walked on this catwalk before. 

She doesn’t know if that means they’ve done this before, or if they took over this building after it was used a lot. Either way, she tries to look over the sides or through the grate but all she can see is black. After making a few turns, they stop and Mysterio turns to them. “Good bye for now,” he says, darkness bleeding into the foreground, making it impossible to see anything. She whips her head at un but all she’s met with is complete black. Her feet leave the ground and now she’s panicking, blindly kicking out, begging to connect with anything. Her arms are released from the guards’ holds, so she begins to throw her cured hands out, trying to hit something, anything, something that exists outside of whatever nightmare she stumbled into. 

MJ is left like that for who knows how long, just struggling around and trying to find anything out there. Once it’s past what she thinks is two minutes, during which she hits nothing and still can’t see a thing, she starts to talk, trying to get anything or anyone to respond. “Ned?! Peter?! Is anyone out there?!” she calls out. “I swear, if I’m dead right now-”

Suddenly everything’s back and she has to blink a lot to get her eye to adjust, but now she can see things again! What she sees however, is not good. The interior of holding cells in an old Quinjet, HYDRA-era if the logo stamped to the wall is anything to go by. Which either means Mysterio is working for or with HYDRA, or uses old HYDRA tech. Both options are bad. In the cell next to her cell is Ned, slumped up against the wall. 

“Ned,” she whispers, “Ned. Ned wake up!” Nothing. MJ sighs, but yells out in her best teacher voice, “Mr. Leeds!”

“I’M AWAKE I SWEAR!” Ned yells, sitting up and handing his hand as if writing notes. “Wait…”

“Old Quinjet, HYDRA-era I think. They’re taking us somewhere,” MJ summarizes for him. 

“Fuck, if they’re taking us somewhere else, what’re they doing to Peter? And why us, you’d think they’re exchanging us for EDITH?”

“I mean, we make the most sense, they know Peter’s Spider-Man so they’re probably hanging on to him because he’s of more value and is enhanced, which depending on what Mysterio’s interested in…”

“Experimentation and duplication if possible,” Ned says tightly, shivering slightly.

She nods. “As for EDITH, it would make sense.”

“Trade the two civilians for the super powerful, could definitely start World War Three if the user wanted to, AI, while keeping the scientific specimen for testing and potential weaponization,” Ned sighs. 

They sit there for a couple minutes, silently mulling over the harsh odds they’ve been thrown into. “Imagine what would have happened if Peter was never bitten,” Ned whispers.

“What?”

“Imagine if he was never bitten by that spider, if he never got his powers. What would our lives be like?”

MJ laughs. “Probably a lot less kidnapped-in-New-York-alleys.”

Ned giggles sheepishly. “Probably, but like, what else? In full seriousness.”

“Hmm,” MJ thinks it over. “Well, I mean, he’d probably be getting at least a little more sleep, but I guess he never would have met Stark, so we’d never have met the crazy people or gotten to intern there.”

“We probably would have had a better DC trip, right?”

“Most likely, I mean without Peter, the Vulture would never have attacked us and no one would have cut the ferry in half, he would have gotten away with the Avengers’ stuff, and Liz would still be going to Midtown without knowing her father was stealing and doing illegal stuff.”

“The Snap would still have happened,” Ned mutters. “But Tony said part of his motivation was to bring Peter back, so it might have taken longer to get everyone back…”

“He would have met Harley though, those two had been planning to met each other when he told Peter he was going to MIT. So maybe we would have met Stark and baggage anyway.”

“Oh right, because Harley was already going to live with Tony before the Snap and he met Peter in person! So maybe it’d be almost the same, but without Peter’s powers.”

“And we’d just be three gen z civilian kids that a weirdo in a fish bowl hat kidnapped to hold for ransom for a way too powerful AI instead of three gen z kids, two civilians and one enhanced.”

“Do you think the court case would have happened?” Ned asks. “It feels like everything happened because of it and I wonder, even though it was a great thing, if maybe…”

“If maybe, if we hadn’t made such a big deal out of it, then we’d be planning a prank war with our gang?” MJ finishes once he trails off.

“Don’t get me wrong! I know we did the right thing with that, both of them deserved what they got-”

“I know what you mean Ned, I don’t think you’re saying it was bad to stand up for Peter.”

“But if it hadn’t happened, maybe we’d all be safe. Maybe we wouldn’t be in cells, maybe we’d be doing homework and drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee, maybe-”

“We can’t change the past,” MJ interrupts, cutting Ned off before he spirals too far. “I wish we could, we could change it now. And as much as we want it, we can’t tell the future, though we could have avoided this all if we could. But we can’t, so we just have to try and stay alive long enough to get Peter out and return to our lives.”

“Not that chaos didn’t exist there either. I mean, wasn’t Shuri going to ask her mystery girl out tomorrow?”

Yep, the hot, cool, and completely out of her league crush of hers. Suri’s a princess for crying out loud, it’s not like she’d be interested in MJ like that… “Yeah, that’s awesome.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry MJ! I completely forgot-”

“It’s okay Ned,” MJ says, pushing her unrequited love thoughts out of her head. “I get.”

“I was just trying to take our minds off of the whole being locked in a cage like in those action movies but we’re actually living it, and it was the first thing that popped into mind that we weren’t supposed to do with everyone else and-”

“It’s okay Ned,” MJ stresses. “Seriously. And hey, I appreciate it. Um… isn’t Vision coming back soon? Right?”

“Oh right! They were out in Scotland, said they’d be back in a week. And they felt Friday or Saturday, so they should be coming back sometime this week.”

“Wanda’ll be happy.”

“Yeah, it’s obvious she’s been missing them.”

“It’s kinda sickening how cute they can be,” MJ complains. 

“Not as bad as Harley and Peter though,” Ned laughs.

“Those two are nauseating at times, remember Valentines’ Day?”

“You mean when they brought each other roses, then spent three hours building wrist bands that would replicate the beat of the other’s heart?” Ned pretends to gag. “They only wear those when they aren’t in the same building as each other, remember what Peter said?”

“Oh yeah, what was it? ‘It’s comforting because it feels like he’s right there next to me, his heart beating with mine’, like seriously, they’d only met in person two times before and were only three months into dating, how are they real?”

“I have no idea, maybe we’d get it if we ever confessed to our crushes.”

“You mean I confess to a girl in love with someone else, and you confess to someone you’re too nervous to talk more than passing pleasantries to?”

“Yeah never mind, let’s-”

The whole ship shakes and a distinct thud echoes throughout. The metal door at the end of the compartment opens with a whoosh, letting six guards walk in. They unlock and grab the two, holding them just like when they marched them out of the cell areas back with Peter. Just as she thought, the brief look of the main area of the Quinjet confirms that it’s an old model, one meant for HYDRA and not just HYDRA-controlled SHIELD. 

Mysterio is outside of it, arms crossed. There’s not much outside, it looks like nothing, long plains stretching out for miles around. Maybe the Midwest then? “Sorry I can’t show you two the whole set up, it’s quite good if I say so myself, but at least I don’t have to encase you in the black this time,” he says, laughing. “C’mon, I think you’ll like your new places.” He turns and walks away, the guards and MJ and Ned following.

He leads them to a random area of dirt and short grass, just like the rest of the dirt and grass area. Mysterio taps his gauntlet and the ground turns to blue networks that fade out, revealing two metal cages, similar to the ones in the Quinjet they just came from. The guards shove each of them into one, locking her cuffs to the outside of the bars. They ziplock tie each of Ned’s wrists to two separate bars in the cage, then cuff him with metal to the bars again. 

They aren’t taking any chances of them escaping. And if Mysterio was hiding the cages behind an illusion of some kind, what else is he hiding? 

Something tells her they aren’t in any actual flat plains, Midwest or otherwise. A shiver runs through her body as the guards march off and disappear.

“I have things to do, stuff to prepare, so you two just sit here and wait,” Mysterio says. “Don’t worry, the fun part is coming soon.”


	32. Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is badass and Mysterio is a clever bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so close to not being able to write this chapter, my parents dragged me off to a cabin in the woods without wifi for the weekend so I had to write this the afternoon I got back. So um, this isn’t my best work, I’ll admit that. But! I’m out of quarantine, Covid negative, and about to die from school work. Yay?

The London Bridge is closed due to restoration, according to the sign, but Loki can feel the prickle of too much technology in a place that doesn’t appear to have enough technology to bring out that feeling. A small probe of the bridge confirms that there are drones flying all around the bridge, projecting something, the illusion of the normal bridge most likely.

“This is it,” she says. “He’s definitely here, so much unseen technology has to be him.”

“Right, okay,” Anthony says, glancing around, the glasses holding EDITH covering his eyes. “EDITH is all set, Harley-”

“I’m going with you,” Harley says. 

“Harley-”

“Tony, I’m going. End of discussion.” 

Anthony sighs, but lowers the Quinjet’s ramp without more arguing. Loki stands back as Anthony, Harley, and Wanda walk down. “Bruce, are you alright here?”

“Yeah, yeah I should be fine,” Bruce answers.

“Alright… we’ll be on comms, so you should be able to listen to what’s going on. And, be careful,” Loki warns. “I’m sensing a lot of projections and illusions around here.”

“Technological or magical?” Bruce asks, opening up something on the computer.

“Definitely technological,” Loki decides after a moment. “I feel no magical presence here, but be careful. If he could convince Harley and Peter, he could easily convince you.”

Bruce smiles a little. “But not you?”

“I’m the god of illusions, he wishes he could fool me,” Loki laughs, walking out of the Quinjet. She probes the area to make sure the figures she sees are really her friends, then moves to stand next to them. “What are we looking at?”

“I have no idea,” Harley says. 

“I sense about twenty people, all around this bridge,” Wanda explains while Anthony looks around through the glasses.

“Agreed,” Anthony says, tapping the edge of EDITH. “Scans say twenty, groups of two to five. Most are moving around, guarding the area, a group of two teen-size people is just standing around with three taller people watching them.”

“So maybe two of our three,” Harley sighs. “Any way of telling who they are?”

“I think I can sense Mysterio,” Wanda speaks up. “There’s so much technology though, I can’t-”

Loki quickly interrupts her. “Oh right, we haven’t gotten that far in your teaching to get to the long distance plus technology part!” She snaps her fingers to fill everyone’s minds with her voice for a second. “We can’t say too much, we need to assume they’re listening to our every word.” Snapping again, she ends the quick spell.

“That makes sense,” Wanda replies. “It was too small anyway, probably a bird or something.”

“Whatever, more important is where the hell are we supposed to be for this?” Harley asks. “I mean, on the bridge, next to the bridge, by the Quinjet?”

“I believe I can answer that problem,” Mystero says, walking towards them. A fake, though a person is in the middle of the bridge from what she can tell. The fake stops a couple steps from them. “You’re going to follow me to the middle of the bridge so we can all have a little chat.”

“And put ourselves in the middle of your little band of armed forces?” Anthony laughs what Loki has learned is his fake laugh, pretending to not care when he can’t handle losing. “How ’bout we do it right here, right now.”

The fake Mysterio laughs back, a sharp bark that sends shivers down Loki’s arms. “I don’t think so,” he snaps. “I have guards ordered to shoot, if you don’t obey, that’s a bullet in each person here until you’re left alone.”

“Sweet of you to warn me,” Anthony quips. 

Loki hears the bullet fire before she knows where it’s going, instinctively throwing up a shield in front of her teammates. Only after she hears the screams does she realize it wasn’t aimed near her; Ned’s screams and MJ’s piercing wail of agony she’s heard far too many times, in too many places, confirm that.

“Miss Jones will live,” Mysterio says, as if running through something he always says and not saying someone will live from a gunshot he ordered to happen. “Mr. Leeds won’t get the same kindness. Come along.” With a flip of his cape, the illusion turns and walks away.

Anthony begins following, knuckles white as his fingers curl into fists at his sides. Wanda’s breathing is rough and rushed, Harley looking just as Heimdal looks when he gazes off into other realms. She wishes she could give them time to process, but she can’t, so she gently pushes them forward, keeping a hand on each of their shoulders. 

They make quite the line, a man in armor leading a man who has been in this position too many times and her with two trembling people she wishes she could teleport to the Quinjet. If she did though, what would Mysterio say? What would he do? Best to keep them on either side of her and hold her mask of stone, give nothing away to be used against her.

As they walk, Loki reworks the plan. Obviously Mysterio doesn’t have Peter with him, otherwise he’d probably have shot him first. He named both MJ and Ned, so those are the two in immediate danger, though she can’t rule Peter out yet. MJ is shot, not fatally but she’ll need medical attention as soon as possible. The closest hospital in London then, or perhaps she’ll teleport MJ to the Med Bay. Either way, MJ needs medical attention. Ned is definitely going to be in a panic, he’ll need support and someone to stay with him when they get him out of here. Wanda and Harley aren’t in the right mindset, they seem to be in shock but that could easily go to anger or mental breakdown, so she needs to get them out soon. Anthony is tense, at least from what she can tell, which isn’t much. She’s good with reading anyone, but posture isn’t the best when she’s trying to read a good actor like Anthony. He’s tense and worried, but most likely trying to be strong, like always. 

The fake stops at the middle, lining up to the figure in the middle. A very faint shift, and now they’re looking at the real Mysterio. “Right. Where’s EDITH?”

Anthony gestures at his glasses with a dramatic hand. “Ta da.”

“Perfect,” Mysterio purrs. “Hand them over.”

“Hand over my kids.”

“Hmm, I could shoot them for that.” Harley tenses even more under Loki’s hand. “But! It’s a smart move, so I think I’ll let you see them.”

Part of the large illusion on the bridge fades out, revealing Ned panicking, chest heaving, eyes wide, in a cage next to MJ, blood staining her jean-covered leg, also in a cage. MJ is limp, head resting on her wrists because her hands are cuffed outside the cage. 

“No…” Harley whispers. Loki tightens her hold as he shifts to try to rush to them, Wanda’s power thrumming in an unsteady pulse underneath Loki’s hand. 

“Don’t move,” she whispers, allowing an illusion to take her place as she moves away. Neither reacts and she allows a small smile in pride as she moves to Ned’s cage first. 

“Here they are,” Mysterio presents as she creates an illusion in front of Ned and MJ’s cages. “See, non-fatal shot to Miss Jones.” Loki uncuffs Ned, who shudders but doesn’t say anything. “Now, give me EDITH.” 

Loki whispers to Ned, “I’m going to get you out, just listen to my heartbeat.” She places Ned’s hand over her wrist, so he can feel her pulse as her other hand unlocks the cage. 

“Where’s Peter?” Harley asks. Loki pulls Ned up, enlarging her illusion to include him. Mysterio laughs his sharp, chilling bark again.

“Go to Wanda,” she whispers to Ned. 

“I never said I’d give you him,” Mysterio says as Ned, covered in her illusion, goes to stand next to Wanda. Loki turns to MJ. 

“You did, actually,” Anthony cuts in as Loki uncuffs MJ. 

“What?” Loki opens the cage, no response from MJ besides her hands and head almost falling, Loki catches her.

“You said you’d give us MJ, Ned, and Peter when we gave you EDITH.” She picks up MJ, who groans a little but Loki manages to cover her mouth quickly enough that it can be mistaken for the age of the bridge. 

“Hmm, guess I lied,” Mysterio replies. Loki moves back to her small group with MJ in her arms. “Now, hand me EDITH.”

Anthony removes EDITH and walks forward, towards Mysterio. Guns shift in the hidden guards’ arms as he walks. They mean to shoot him once he’s handed EDITH over.

Mysterio grabs EDITH from Anthony’s outstretched hand. 

“I turn over control to Mysterio,” Anthony says. EDITH beeps in response. “She can’t get a read on you,” he says.

Oh, she must need to see his face. Which is underneath the helmet. Loki grins and combines all the illusions around them into one. She hands MJ to Harley, whispering, “Wanda, be ready to take down the guards.” 

“She needs a face?” Mysterio 

With that, Loki moves to stand behind Mysterio, ready to get that hair she needs. “Yep,” Anthony answers. “For safety, you know how it is.”

Mysterio chuckles darkly. “Do I. Alright, fine.” He taps something on his gauntlet and his helmet sinks into his armor. Loki takes a few hairs, dark brown, and puts them in a pocket universe quickly. “Hello Tony, it’s been a couple years now.” She moves to go back, but something grabs her by the throat. 

“You?” Anthony says, shocked. Loki can feel that the thing holding her is a drone, so she drops down and stabs up, hitting the drone in its center and rolling away. 

“Me,” Mysterio confirms. “And,” he puts on EDITH as Loki stands up in her original place, “thanks to you, I finally get my technology back.” Loki gets a look at the man under the bowl: dark chocolate hair, grey or blue eyes, tan skin. He isn’t much.

“I-”

“Goodbye Tony,” Mysterio says. She throws up a shield as bullets fire at them, but it stops after just a few moments. “Impressive, Loki. But, it will cost your friends.” Bullets fly into the cages, and Loki smirks, dropping the illusion on them. 

“Ah yes, those empty cages are quite a high cost to me,” she laughs. 

“Good thing I kept your Quinjet in sight, then.”

Her blood freezes in her veins. MJ, Ned, and Harley are vulnerable, Tony too, Wanda can hold her own but she’s emotionally compromised. She could teleport all of them to the Med Bay, allowing her enough energy to protect the Quinjet. And there has to be an opening close by, there was one when she was here centuries ago... “And?”

“Dr. Banner is in there, isn’t he? And I believe his friend has a bullet with his name on it,” Mysterio muses, a satisfied smirk on his face. Bruce… “London could use some remodeling anyway.” Loki grits her teeth. This is going to cost her, the Space Stone would be extremely useful right now but no, she leaves it in the vaults. Safety be damned, she needs to bring that thing with her more.

She forces two portals to open and sends everyone to the Tower, deleting her magic. Her illusions disappear, her shield weakened, leaving her alone with Mysterio and his guards. Targets begin changing, she can hear the guards moving from where her friends once stood to focus only on her. 

“Well, that was a stupid move,” Mysterio states. 

“I don’t think so,” she growls, her magic finally landing on the entrance she needs. She throws a knife into his chest and leaps off the bridge, diving into the murky river. Bullets rain down into the water, but she’s already under the bridge, deep at the bottom, searching for the rift. 

It’s there, the glowing pull of Yggdrasil’s branches that cannot be hidden for long. The same feel as back then, though the river was a little more clean. Her eyes search through the stilt, plastic and rubber and metal covering her view of the bottom, floating objects impeding her search for the warm green glow that has to be- There! Loki pushes against the rift with her magic and allows it to open up, falling onto Yggdrasil’s branches of life. Hopefully she’ll have enough magic to manage her way back to Midgard or Asgard, or at least a friendly world.


	33. They All Vanish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wonder what watching a friend get shot because of you does to a person well-versed in loss?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay but I actually did a lot of research on some of this and while some minor details were made up, the important bits about electrocution is true! Also, a ma or a milliampere (also known as a milliamp) is a unit of electric current that is used internationally. This will be important in this chapter!

MJ on her hospital bed, Ned in a chair next to her, Harley pacing in the hallway, Bruce in his room, and Tony is somewhere in the upper floors, probably telling Nat what happened. Which leaves Wanda in the other chair next to MJ, waiting for anything to change. Maybe Loki to reappear, maybe for Peter to come back, maybe for MJ to wake up? Maybe for Shuri to come to the Tower, maybe for everything to calm down, maybe for her partner to be back even though they weren’t supposed to be back until Friday? Maybe, she’s waiting for the world to finally stop trying to end and just be at peace for once. She doesn’t know though. 

All she knows is that she’s waiting. All she knows is that she, Ned, Harley, and Tony had been on London Bridge one minute, the next they were in the Med Bay. Bruce said he found himself in the Quinjet, on the pad on the Tower. All she knows is that they’ve had no sign of Loki at all, Tony went back to London but found nothing. No Mysterio, and no Loki. She’s tried her best to stretch her magic out, trying to sense where Loki is, but can’t find anything. It’s as if she left Earth after sending them all back to the Tower. But that can’t be it, Loki didn’t have the Space Stone so she must have had to teleport them all using her own magic, which would be incredibly draining, so she couldn’t have teleported herself as well, that would have run her magic too thin, even for a god well trained in magic. She could have called the Bifrost, but it would have scorched the ground with runes, which Tony didn’t find. Which leads Wanda to two possibilities: either Loki escaped and is shielding herself from Wanda (unlikely) or she was taken by Mysterio (even more unlikely). 

Loki had promised Wanda to never shield herself from her unless absolutely necessary, a fail safe to make sure they as magic wielders, and friends, could always find each other.

But even drained of most of her magic, Loki could easily created a dozen ways to escape Mysterio and his… guards? Minions? People? Whatever, point is, Loki could never be captured, she should have had enough magic for that, not to mention wit and cleverness. So it can’t be Mysterio…

“I came as soon as I could,” May says, interrupting Wanda’s thoughts by rushing in. Wanda had heard she’d been called into an emergency shift while they were gone, but she got out quickly. It’s only been four hours since they saw her last. She stops as soon as she sees the room. 

Wanda knows it’s a sad sight; MJ has an IV in her arm and a giant cast on her leg, currently still passed out. Miss Cho is prepping to transfer MJ from the Med Bay in the Tower to the Avenger Compound, where she has even better technology than in the Tower, but for now there’s a cast. Ned is sleeping in the chair next to MJ’s bed. He hasn’t said a word since they appeared in the Tower, just let them examine for injuries then curled up in the chair next to MJ. And her, in the chair on the other side of MJ’s bed, wrapped up in Vision’s sweater that’s two sizes too big but is the closest she’ll get to having them there with her. She hasn’t changed out of her armor yet, just slipped on the sweater then made her way back to the Med Bay.

“Where’s Peter?” May whispers, though by her ashen expression, she already has an idea. 

“Sit down, May,” Wanda advises softly, barely feeling able to speak louder than ‘soft’, gesturing at the chair next to hers. May sits without another word. “Mysterio shot MJ in the leg, then while Tony and Mysterio were talking, Loki got Ned and MJ. We- we didn’t see Peter nor did Mysterio talk about him. Tony handed EDITH over and in the process, Mysterio took off his helmet and Tony seems to know who he is, but then the bullets started... Loki shielded us, but then he threatened to trigger the Hulk and Loki must have teleported us all back because we were back here before anything could happen.” 

“Where’s Loki then? And where’s Tony?” 

“Tony’s briefing everyone else, I think,” Wanda explains. “As for Loki... we haven’t seen or heard from her since we got here.”

“And how long has that been?”

“Between two to three hours.”

The silence sits between them, thick as a wall and yet oh so thin, if they could just reach through it. But they don’t, so they wait in silence. Ned’s rhythmic breathing has slowly synced up to MJ’s heart monitor, which beeps at a constant, safe level. The room is dim, all other monitors thrumming with quiet white noise that she doesn’t pay attention to. 

Wanda just snuggles deeper into her partner’s sweater, black knit, and tries to let her thoughts fizzle out long enough for her to sleep. She’s reached that space between sleep and awake, where everything is quiet and time flows without memory, when MJ’s heart monitor picks up. 

There’s a pause, that she knows lasts only a second, but it feels longer. There’s this pause, where everything is still and they still haven’t reacted to MJ’s heart picking up which means she’s awake which means she’s _awake_ and it seems to be taking years for the information to get to her brain that MJ is waking until the pause is gone and she’s leaping up to see her friend, her sister, awake, finally feeling some energy in herself after hours of nothing but shock and terror.

They surround MJ, with Ned on one side and Wanda and May on the other. And MJ’s eyes open. “Y’all look like shit,” she mutters. 

And suddenly, everything’s just a little bit brighter. Because she’s alright, probably because of the painkillers, but still.

“You were the one shot, so really you look worse,” Wanda shoots back.

“By the way, how do you feel?” May adds.

“One, I look fabulous, being shot does wonders for personal skin care,” MJ deadpans, “and two, I rank being shot as a one out of ten, would not recommend.”

“You just said it did wonders for your skin,” Ned points out, voice rough and cracked from non-usage. 

“And getting burned alive gets you warm but also dead so it can be both,” MJ shoots back. “Now, did you really hand over EDITH? And where’s Peter?”

“We did hand EDITH over,” Wanda admits. “As for Peter, we don’t know. Where were you being held?”

“We don’t know either,” Ned answers. 

“Mysterio made sure we never knew,” MJ growls. “Illusion tech, I’m guessing.” 

“That’s what Loki thought,” Wanda says. Well, what she pointed towards, at least.

“Where is Loki, by the way?” MJ asks, glancing around.

Ned answers her this time, the words frozen in Wanda’s throat. “No one knows, she disappeared when she teleported us back here.”

MJ’s eyes narrow, heartbeat on the monitor quickening slightly. “And where are we?” 

“The Tower,” May supplies. “Med Bay, to be exact.”

“Right, what’s the total injury list?”

“Um…” May and Ned look to Wanda. 

Right. She was the one who would know, considering FRIDAY was turned off in the Avengers areas until she could be combed for Mysterio’s presence, and anyone else who would know isn’t exactly here.

“MJ, you were shot in the leg, the bullet scraped your main bone plus all the muscle and tissue tearing so it’s in a cast right now. Miss Cho is prepping to take you and Ned to the compound, because both you and Ned have electric burns on your tissues and nerves, nothing serious thankfully, but Miss Cho wants to heal that as well.” 

“Electric burns?” May speaks up. “Where the hell did you get electric burns from?!”

“Mysterio,” Ned says. He turns to Wanda. “How bad is it? Neither of us have exterior burns so it’s gotta be below 100 milliamperes but bad enough that we blacked out so between 50 to 100, because that’d lead to internal burns but not external and would line up with the muscles seizing and numbness we felt immediately after.”

She thinks she understands what he just said, but not really. “I’m not a doctor,” Wanda says. “So I have no idea. Nor do I get what you just said.”

“I think he’s asking how bad the electrocution was to us,” MJ explains. “Which I also want to know because Peter’s still out there and they aren’t gonna be easy on him.”

“Like I said, I have no idea, you’ll have to ask-”

The Med Bay doors slide open and Miss Cho walks in, looking at a Starkpad. “Ah, Miss Jones! Glad to see you up, are you feeling any pain?” They move back to their seats as Miss Cho checks the cast and IV.

“No pain here,” MJ replies. “How’re our burns?”

“I assume Wanda filled you in then? Good. Well, we suspect Mr. Leeds was exposed to volts of around 50ma, so his burns stayed mostly to his nervous system. That means your touch sensations are dulled and while in time they should recover, it’s well within my ability to heal your burns so I will be doing that after Miss Jones. Miss Jones, your burns are more serve, as we suspect the volts you received were at around 90 to 100ma. This means that yours burned your muscles and tissues as well as nervous system, and thus need to be treated before any permanent damage can set in.” The words still don’t make sense, but she knows what burns mean and where they are, which isn’t where burns should be, so it’s probably not good.

“So you’re moving us to the compound?” MJ asks.

“Yes. I and my assistants are ready to take both of you and we really need to go soon.”

“Can someone come with us?” Ned asks, fiddling with his jacket sleeve. It’s a little dirty and torn, Wanda notes absentmindedly, probably due to the kidnapping.

“Sure. Wanda, do you want to come? You can come too, miss…”

“Call me May and I’ll go if these two will let me,” May says.

“Yeah you can come May,” MJ replies. Ned nods his agreement. “Wanda? You in?”

“I’ll stay here,” Wanda decides quietly. “I’m going to try to reach Loki, or at least keep Harley from wearing through the floor. Besides...” _I want to be here when Vision comes home_. 

Her friends nod in understanding. “Okay, send us updates,” Ned says. 

“Tell us everything that happens, every day, we need a full report!” MJ orders as Miss Cho does her thing with the monitors. 

“I will,” she promises as medical people fill the room, unhooking and hooking up machines and items she knows nothing about. They wheel MJ out on her bed, Ned and May following the group of people, Miss Cho leading them. And just like a violent storm that comes and goes in the space of an hour, they’re gone.

The room’s empty without them, machines and monitors silent. Only a couple chairs with indents to ever say there were people in the room. And her, still sitting in her chair.

Sighing, Wanda stands up and walks out of the room, wandering through the pristine halls until she lands on an elevator. She takes it up to her and Vision’s floor, needing some comfort right now. The doors open and she walks onto their floor. It’s a little colder on this floor than the others, because they like to wear sweaters and it gives them both a reason to keep blankets around. Warm yellow walls and fluffy white carpet greets her as she takes her boots off, gently placing them on the shoe rack next to the elevator. Her boots stand next to theirs, for when they want to wear actual boots and not just create ones. She doesn’t get it, but they say it makes them feel more human and that’s enough. 

She passes their sofa, a soft grey one with a few white pillows on it and a fluffy red blanket draped over the back, and walks down the small hallway to their room. The door is painted to look like willow bark, though really it’s a standard door. It takes a steady breath before she walks in, the emptiness of the room weighing on her. Wanda crosses the room slowly, fingering the top blanket, plaid light blue and white, before drifting to their closet. She exchanges her armor for black leggings and a dark red tank top, keeping Vision’s sweater on over top. Padding to the bed, she grabs the blanket before making her way back to the sofa, curling up in a ball next to the armrest and throwing both blankets on top of her. 

“Play something from our watched list,” she orders. FRIDAY may be offline in the Avengers area, but the auto-commands still work for th TV, lights, heating and cooling, basically everything FRIDAY did but without a verbal response or personality behind it. The TV starts up, playing a soft, sweet movie they’d watched a while ago when it caught Wanda’s eye. She settles further into her pile of blankets and lets the movie provide enough background noise to drown her thoughts and allow her to drift off to sleep.


	34. Getting Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where's Loki?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki uses some neoprouns, for the most part you should be able to understand what's going on, but here's a key for the most used one: xe (she/he/they), xem (her/him/them), xemself (herself/himself/themself), xyr (hers/his/their).  
> Also, gender doesn't change based on emotions, for Loki it just happens that xe can't tell what pronoun to use because gender's fickle like that, so xe changes through pronouns to try to feel out what feels right.
> 
> Oh and yes, the two dudes mentioned at the end are considered gay lovers even though many tried to cover it up. They wrote love letters, it's cute.
> 
> HOLY SHIT I WAS CHECKING MY STATS ANS GUYS!!! WE'RE PASS 50,000 HITS!!! Fifty thousand hits, I'm literally crying I never thought I'd get here, thank you so much for everything, I love you all for reading, this is incredible!! We're only at 34 chapters (70,000 words) and I fully intend to get to at least 90,000 words so trust me, this is far from over, but thank you all for accompanying me on this huge milestone! I know this note's getting long, so I'll end now, thank you all so much!!
> 
> EDIT: so originally Loki used fae/faer pronouns, however someone alerted me to the hatred between Norse and Celtic people, so that’s like, extremely disrespectful. I’m sorry about any insult I accidentally made, Loki uses xe/xem pronouns in this (I used find&replace so I understand that it may be a little awkward, sorry about that) to remedy my mistake.

Luck is a fucking nightmare. Loki jumps into Yggdrasil and uses the last of his magic to get to a world that wouldn’t pose a threat to herself, then falls into sleep to restore their magic. So of course she awakens on Svartalfheim, and their gender fluctuating too fast for him to properly get a grip on what pronouns feel right-

“No,” Loki says out loud, crossing xyr legs. “Whatever feels right will come to me, a mix is nothing wrong. Svartalfheim is uninhabited so I am in no danger. I need time to rest, the children will be fine for a moment longer.” It’s just as his mother told them, being mindful of her limits is good, xe can’t help if ae is still building back xyr magic reserves. And saying the words out loud gives weight to them, as if to reinforce what xe already know to be true. 

It’s peaceful, out here. Not silent, it’s never completely silent anywhere, but peaceful. The wind blows across the rocks and dust of the dead planet, the sky looks like the green and yellow of a bruise but it’s oddly lovely, in its own way. Loki could get used to meditating out here, no distractions, small trinkets of humanity hidden in a cave left over from the Convergence. Of course, the absence of life, even plant life, does send an uncomfortable shudder down aer back, but for the most part it’s nice.

It also gives xem time to reflect on what happened at the bridge. Peter wasn’t there, which must mean he is being held separately and Mysterio never intended to give him back. Why they expected him to be fair is puzzling, but there’s no point in dwelling in what-ifs. MJ was shot in her leg, but as far as ae could tell she should be alright if xe sent her and the others to the Tower. Bruce should be alright too, even if the Quinjet missed the Tower, Bruce should have been able to fly himself to safety. So everyone but Peter is almost definitely okay. Peter… There’s nothing to be done, not until xe can get back to Earth and begin to track Mysterio.

After an hour, Loki stands up and stretches. xe has regained enough magic to be ready to travel Yggdrasil again and while xe isn’t completely set on xyr pronouns, it’s good enough for now. The Bifrost encases xyr though, etching runes into the ground as it pulls xyr up. “Heimdall?” xe calls out, feeling the rush of the travel, though xe never called for the Bifrost.

Then xe pops out of the beam and into the control room, Heimdall standing there with his sword locked in. But he should be in the palace, Thor and Valkyrie should still be off world. Unless... “Heimdall?”

“Welcome home, Your Majesty,” Heimdall greets with his usual calm grin. “Your brother has come home from the rebellion, so here I am. All is well in the Nine Realms.”

“That is good news, but I never called on you,” Loki points out. Heimdall rarely activates the Bifrost without being called, it wasn’t his way.

“True, but you intended to travel Yggdrasil and drain more of your magic, when this would be easier.” Loki smiles at that. They’ve truly changed for the better, just five years ago he’d never have done this for xyr.

“Thank you. I need to speak with my brother, but then I must be going soon. All is not well in Midgard, I fear.”

“I know, I’ve seen,” Heimdall says, unsheathing his sword and placing it on his back, deactivating the Bifrost and stepping down to face Loki. “That man, the one who holds Parker and threatened others’ lives, his name is Quentin Beck. He is in the country of Germany, near their city of Berlin. I don’t know much else, as he never appeared as a threat to Asgard before this.” That narrows xyr search.

“Please, tell me, is Peter alright?”

“He is alive and unharmed for now, they know what a powerful chip they hold. You have time, the trade bought you time.” Loki breathes a sigh of relief, xe had hoped it would be enough, but it is reassuring that it did work as planned.

“You have been extremely helpful Heimdall, thank you.” With that, Loki strides out over the Bifrost bridge, walking back into xyr kingdom. Xe’s pleased the railing along the edges of the bridge have been repaired after Hela’s destruction, as reconstruction was still ongoing when xe left. They added small lanterns it looks like, channeling the Bifrost’s produced light to better light the way. 

The streets are full of people once again, the market bustling with trade as money changes hands and goods are placed in bags and baskets, children laughing as they chase each other throughout the thick crowd. Xe has to smile at that, for xyr people have gone through so much in these last few years, it’s reassuring to see them thriving still, a testament to the reliance of xyr people. A few people greet xyr and they exchange a few words before xe continues on. From what xe gathers, it seems everything has been going well and no new catastrophes have occurred without xyr here. No one has died at least, no new gods bent on murdering the entire population appeared. The palace gates are open and xe walks inside, nodding to the guards, heading straight for the throne room, which should be fairly empty at this time of the day. And if xe wants to find Thor, he’ll be there, the model of a good regent King. 

Though, he was trained to be King for decades, so it makes sense that he would be, xe thinks. At least Thor knows xyr tastes enough to be able to oversee the people while xe is away.

Glancing up as xe enters, xe’s glad the mural has been fixed as well while xe has been away. Now it shows the whole story, no more cover ups or rewrites or twisting the truth to better fit what they wish the people to know. Now Hela and Odin’s battles are shown, Hela’s imprisonment, Odin’s peace, the taking of xyr as a baby, the royal family, Thor and Loki’s misfalls, the Avengers, the dark elves, xyr taking of the throne and banishment of Odin, Hela’s return, Odin’s death, and the battle for Asgard, all of it. Thanos, the Snap, and the Reverse Snap have also been added, ending with Thor giving up the throne and Loki’s ascension to it, this time legally and not through lies or tricks. 

It took Hela’s return to prompt a new mural be created, one that covered all that had happened these years, but it was needed, so Loki can’t hate it too much. Xe does wish Thor didn’t have to lose his eye though, the mismatched eye he used to wear didn’t match his other eye and his new one will never truly be like Thor’s other one, no matter how they try. No matter, Asgard needed to be reminded of their history, both the good and the bad, and Hela was simply the catalyst for it. Plus, her destruction of the palace led to remodeling the throne room, which means less gold, which is always good in xyr books because Odin put way too much gold in, not enough color to make it feel less tacky.

Thor sits on the throne, Gungnir in its place next to the throne, Stormbreaker propped up next to Thor’s legs, in case he needs to use it quickly. He isn’t paying attention, so Loki smirks and decides a little prank won’t hurt either of them. Turning xemself into a snake, xe slithers up to the throne, hissing softly to alert Thor to xyr presence. He looks around until his gaze lands on xyr and he breaks into a grin. “Hello there little one,” Thor says with a dopey smile as he picks xyr up. “Look at you, you’re such a pretty snake-” 

Loki changes back to xemself and yells, “Mblerg it’s me!” and stabs him. Thor grumbles as xe laughs at his shocked face, side stepping his punch as usual. 

“Loki,” Thor sighs, a hint of smile tugging at his lips.

“Thor,” Loki replies gleefully, wiping a tear away from xyr eye. “How you been?”

Thor rolls his eyes and stands up, pulling the knife out of himself and tossing it back at Loki, who catches it and sends it back to his pocket. “I’ve been fine, Loki. Asgard is well and the other realms are at peace. But Heimdall tells me Midgard isn’t, what’s happening?”

“A man named Mysterio, though Heimdall tells me his name is actually Quentin Beck, kidnapped MJ, Ned, and then Peter. We got MJ and Ned back, however Peter is still out there and I need to return to rescue him,” Loki quickly explains, sobering up. “Also I’m taking the Space Stone.”

“Loki, I can-”

“No Thor,” Loki interrupts, knowing what he’ll ask, “the people need a leader and Heimdall is needed at the Bifrost. I’m more experienced in magic, I need to be the one to save him.”  _ I failed him once _ , is left unsaid.

“Very well Loki, I’ll protect Asgard. But you’ll have to-”

“Yes yes, hurry back, I know. Trust me, I will be as quick as I can be.” Thor hugs xyr, who hugs him back after a moment, still not used to it.

“Promise to be safe, sibling?” he asks, having picked up that xe isn’t a specific gender currently somehow.

“I promise, brother.”

It doesn’t take xyr long to get to the vault, quickly grabbing the Space Stone and some other weapons xe feels would be useful. Xe’ll return them when xe gets back, probably. Loki walks back down to the Bifrost, wrapping xyr cloak around xemself to keep from being approached. Xe’s wasted enough time as is. Heimdall stands sentry as always, amber eyes flickering around as they see more than xe’ll ever see. 

“Ready to go back?”

“You already know my answer.”

Heimdall nods, turning his sword. “Call on me if you need, I will be here.” 

“Thank you,” Loki replies before being pulled through the Bifrost, landing in the spot Tony’s reserved for Bifrost visits on the Tower. 

“Welcome Reindeer games,” FRIDAY’s voice says, opening the door as xe walks in. 

“Hello FRIDAY,” xe replies. “Where is everyone?”

“Boss is in his lab, Strongest Avenger is making tea in his quarters, and Jazz Hands and Potato Boi are talking in the main commons. Everyone else is out of the Tower.”

“Thank you FRIDAY, I’ll head towards Harley and Wanda now. If anyone asks, my pronouns are xe/xyr.” 

“Understood.” Loki makes xyr way to Harley and Wanda first, knowing those are the ones xe needs to talk to.

“Wait, FRIDAY?”

“Yes?”

“Where are MJ and Ned?”

“They are in the Compound, being treated for their injuries.”

“And May?”

“Working at the hospital.”

“Thank you.” Xe enters the elevator, FRIDAY sending xyr to the main commons right away. The doors open to Harley and Wanda curled up under blankets, reminiscing about memories. There’s a slight pause, then Wanda and Harley whip around to stare at xyr. “I’m back,” xe says. “What’d I miss?”

“Is it really Loki?” Harley whispers.

“I think it is…” Wanda whispers back. Speaking louder, she asks xyr, “What are your pronouns and what is something only we’d know about you?”

“Xe/xyr and I fucked Marsillio Ficino before he met Cavalcanti.” Italians, they had a way of seduction that xe almost misses. Almost.

“Who?”

“Marsillio Ficino was a famous Renaissance intellectual, who felt a connection to the ancient Greeks due to their tolerance of homosexuality,” FRIDAY supplies.

“He wrote amazing letters,” Loki adds. “He and Cavalcanti were rich.”

The two leap at xyr, practically tackling xyr in excitement. Xe stumbles, but doesn’t fall, hugging the sobbing people as tight as xe knows they need. Slowing, xe rocks them a little before edging towards the couch, eventually managing to lay down with the two curled on top of xyr. “When was the last time you slept?” Loki asks softly.

“Probably been a day or two,” Wanda mutters.

“About two days,” Harley’s voice is muffled but still clear enough. 

“Alright, first you’re going to sleep, then we’ll catch up,” Loki decides, detaching an arm to grab the blanket and lay it over them. “You need sleep before rescuing someone.”


	35. I’m Sorry Part 2: Electric Bogaloo

Due to homework issues and general breakdowns, I am putting this on a small hiatus until the first Tuesday of 2021. 

It takes me a full day to write and edit one chapter if I work non-stop, only pausing for lunch, and I just too much work right now plus studying for exams to be able to continue to do this.

So, I will be back! I’m taking some time to deal with school, relax, and refocus/plan out the ending, because we have about ten to twenty chapters left in this and I’m still kinda vague on how I want my masterpiece to end. I mean, I started writing this in quarantine back in March! And look where we are, December, in like semi-quarantine. It’s grown so much since then and I want to make sure it gets the proper ending it deserves, one that fits the story and leaves us all feeling satisfied. 

Dates to remember!

The first Tuesday of January, 2021, is when the next chapter will be published!   
  


I of course will still be answering comments, so if you have any questions feel free to ask them!

Thank you so much for being understanding, if I could give you all kudos for sticking with me, especially to those who’ve been here since the beginning, I would. Stay safe, enjoy the holidays, and I’ll see you all in 2021!! <3


	36. Well That Happened

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mysterio's mad, Peter's monologuing, and the guards just want to listen to Peter's sob story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!

The lights go out after Mysterio takes MJ and Ned away. He listens to their footsteps as much as he can but they eventually fade out and he’s left in silence. It’s chilling, how silent it is. Having nothing better to do, he goes over to his plastic and foam excuse of a bed. The foam doesn’t mask the fact that he’s really just sleeping on the floor, it all compressing down to the floor in a minute. 

He sighs, but shifts until he’s in a good enough position that the cold cement doesn’t immediately hurt his back. Yet another con of having enhanced senses, Peter muses, is that he can’t sleep on the floor anymore. His touch is too sensitive now, especially with nothing else going on to distract him from the hard, unforgiving floor. 

Also he’s an insomniac so no sleep for him anyway, especially not with everything going on.

Where the hell is Mysterio taking MJ and Ned? Both have been electrocuted by now, from what he can tell Ned got multiple low volt shocks whereas the one MJ received seemed higher volt. He can’t remember everything about electrical harm on people, something about the jump back you do when shocked is actually your muscles reacting to the current running through the body? No that doesn’t help, MJ wasn’t able to move at all with the way those guards were holding her. Besides, that doesn’t take into account the damage having a current run through your body…

Mysterio said it wouldn’t cause any permanent damage, so that’s something. Of course he literally tricked Peter into getting out of the Tower and on to an old Quinjet then locked him in a cell, so he could have lied. But why would he take MJ and Ned? To do a hostage video? They would have been back by now if that was the case… right? 

Maybe he’s killing them….

No, no he seems the sick kind of villain to do that in front a ton of people, to get the most reaction. If Mysterio wanted to kill MJ and Ned, he’d do it in front of Peter too. And if he wanted to add an incentive to the Avengers, he’d have killed only one of them, so they have more hostages to threaten than just him. 

Peter shakes his head, trying to get rid of his morbid thoughts. No, they’re all okay. He’ll be okay, they’ll be okay, everything is going to be fine. It has to be, there’s no point in them surviving so much, getting snapped out of existence and then being brought back with a snap, killing a purple grape guy with bad parenting issues and a degree in philosophy just to be killed by a dude wearing a fish bowl.

Actually, why does every single person he fights always wear weird stuff. T’Challa fought his cousin, who he saw a picture of and damn he has good fashion sense, Thor’s sister was super powerful looking, Steve fought his boyfriend in a sleek black combat outfit, but nooooooo, Peter has to fight a dude with an aviator jacket and metal wings and now some guy with a fish bowl. ‘Course, to be fair, Thanos had no fashion sense either but like, that gauntlet made up for it. Mysterio has nothing, he has fucking illusions for gods’ sake, he has to know he can do better than that.

He drifts off after that, finally edging towards sleep, when the lights turn back on. With a groan he sits up, looking out at the hallway to see who’s back. It’s not his friends.

“Well well well,” Mysterio growls, stalking forward, “did I wake up you, little spider?”

“Not really,” Peter replies, hesitant on how to react. Mysterio has always been calm, a sick calm but calm all the same. But he’s actively furious, from the way he’s holding himself to how his voice sounds, it’s like a big warning to Peter that he’s no longer playing with a retrained man, he’s out for blood. But he has to ask. “Where’s MJ and Ned?”

“Dead,” Mysterio snarls. “I guess Tony still can’t follow orders.”

Dead?

It- it _can’t_ be...

No, no what has Mysterio done ever since he appeared? Lie and manipulate. This is just another tactic to break him, he can’t let it get to him. MJ and Ned are alive and safe, and if Mysterio is back here then he either has EDITH or the team was able to get Ned and MJ without handing her over. 

“I don’t believe you,” Peter says, fighting to regain his composure after his slip from the shock. “They aren’t dead, you’re just trying to mess with me.”

Mysterio shrugs. “Fine. But I’ll have you know, I shot had my men shoot them.” Mysterio turns to leave, then swivels back. “Oh by the way,” his helmet descends into his armor, revealing his face. And the glasses on it, “EDITH is such a nice lady, pity you’ll never get to know her like I will.” He leaves, cape billowing out behind him. The lights shut off after Mysterio leaves, but Peter listens to his footsteps until they fade out.Even then, he stays where he is, leaning against the back wall to think.

He has EDITH then. So they must have made an exchange, EDITH for Ned and MJ. They’re alive and must have tricked Mysterio somehow for him to be so angry when he came to try and break Peter a little bit more. Loki and Tony would have to have been there then, only Tony could make someone that mad and only Loki could save Ned and MJ considering how Mysterio plays his games.

Mysterio didn’t hand him over though, so that must mean Mysterio plans on using him as more leverage. For what though? Avenger tech? Using the Avengers to run errands? More super bots??? Holding him as leverage against the Avengers, it could be anything. It’s the Avengers for crying out loud!

But Mysterio showed Peter his face...

MJ once said that once your kidnappers show you their face, you’re not surviving. And John Mulaney said that Detective Bittenbinder told him that once you get to a secondary location your chances of coming back alive are slim to none, so if Mysterio moves him out of wherever they are, he’s gonna have to assume he’s going to die because he saw Mysterio’s face.

Dark brown hair, a small beard, blue eyes, edging somewhere between thirty-five and forty if he had to guess. He’ll have to thank Mr. Stark for making the glasses with EDITH in them clear, so he got to see Mysterio’s eyes too. If he’s going to die, he wants to die knowing he saw the eyes of his killer.

“Ooo that’s a nice one, I’ll have to remember it for my autobiography,” Peter says out loud, to himself. “Oh wait. I’m not getting an autobiography. Cause I’m going to die. Oof. Wait, am I being recorded? Oh hey I could just monologue my autobiography and then whoever’s listening could compile it into my autobiography! Because technically I spoke it myself so technically it’s my autobiography instead of a biography done by my friends and Harles.”

Nothing.

It’s still dead silent, but whatever. It’s not like anyone would say anything anyway. Oh hey that’s like, three any’s in one sentence. 

“So, I’m going start monologuing and if the person or people listening to me want me to shut up, just turn the lights on then off again. Otherwise get ready everyone because you’re gonna hear my sob story!”

He waits a couple seconds and no one turns the lights on so he takes this as a sign that they want to hear his sob story. 

“Well it all started when I was born. I’m transgender and so I got stuck in a body society calls female. Now this really sets the tone for most of my childhood, so trust me when I say it all goes downhill from here.”

He pauses to see if they want him to shut up but the lights don’t turn on so he continues. “Anyways I was born to two scientists, who apparently worked for SHIELD but I don’t know if that’s actually true. I mean, May and Ben never told me exactly who they worked for and it’s not like whatever I dig up on them ever really told me much. I could go through the SHIELD file dump Nat did in 2012 but like, no. That’s a ton of files and I don’t have that kind of patience, you know?” 

Peter pauses to lick his lips and try to re-hydrate his dry mouth. Talking a lot sucks when there’s no water around. “Anyway, they were scientists. Good ones too, I mean they made a ton of money. One day, when I was around six-ish, they left me with my Aunt May and my Uncle Ben. Then they died in a plane crash—my parents I mean. Sorry, should’ve been more specific. Then, when I was around thirteen or fourteen, I came out as trans to May and Ben, who’d been taking care of me since the plane crash. We used a bunch of my parents’ saved up money to get me what I needed, T—that’s testosterone for anyone who doesn’t know—and surgeries and stuff. I’m not getting into all that shit right now, but basically yeah.”

If he got into that he’ll bore himself to sleep and that’s no fun. “Then when I was definitely fourteen, I was bitten by this radioactive spider from Oscorps’ laps—not fun—and got these superpowers. But uh, I didn’t really know what to do with the powers so I mostly just chilled and played around with them but then we were walking out on the streets—New York if any of you are wondering—when a robber comes out of a store and Ben goes to stop them but they shoot Ben and he dies in my arms. Whoo body count number is up to three.”

Depressing but thankfully the count has stayed at three so far. “Anyway, I start taking my powers seriously, and decide that I’m going to be a hero. So I grab some old sweatpants and sweatshirts, make some super complex webfluid and things that can shoot it like webs, and I become Spider-Man. Meanwhile I was also meeting this really nice dude on the internet, we met through a Star Trek vs star Wars forum—or was it a Tony Stark appreciation channel? I don’t know, we did a lot of forums and stuff so we probably did both. Either way, we become friends and after we both hacked each other’s accounts—shout out to my bro Ned Leeds for helping me to hack him by the way—to check that we weren’t robots or like, pedophiles, we moved to discord and we did a bunch of gaming stuff and eventually we saw each other and let me tell y’all something. I’d known Harles for about a year by now. I heard his voice, I mean that southern accent,” Peter swoons, “oh boy he had me good. But then, I saw him. And holy shit was he hot. Tousled hair, motor oil everywhere, that mischievous grin as something burned behind him, I fell _hard_. And apparently he did too because we started dating soon after that. Pretty sure I asked him out, but memory’s weird so that may be wrong, fact check that with him alright?”

He pauses again to try and re-hydrate. Damn, couldn’t they like, give him some water? “Now where was I? Oh right, I’m Spider-Man in a onesie, I’ve had my top surgery, and I’m dating Harls. Fast-forward to that big showdown between Mr. Stark and Steve. Mr. Stark finds me, gives me my first spandex suit, and we go to the big showdown. You know what happened next, big fight, Rhodey got hurt, I got a bus thrown at me, had a great time! Okay, so a bit after that it’s like, homecoming week right? Well I need someone to ask out, because Harls at the time lived in the South. There’s this really nice girl in my decathlon team that I know but we aren’t exactly friends so I thought I might as well try to be friends with her and take her to the dance because MJ’s not going and Ned’s going as a single pringle so yeah.”

He did have a crush on her before he fell for Harley but that’s not worth mentioning. “But then some criminals start appearing with alien tech weapons and stuff happens, so I try to find the source, I have to save my friends from the Washington monument, a ferry gets sawed in half, I hold it together and almost popped my shoulders out of the sockets, Mr. Stark comes and recuses everyone off, bad guys get away but he does some tough love but like, not the toxic kind like some actually well-meaning tough love and basically I lose my spandex suit. But then it’s homecoming night and Liz, that’s the nice girl’s name by the way, did I forget to mention that? Liz looks really nice but then I see her dad and holy shit he’s the Vulture guy I’ve been chasing down for the alien weapons! He threatens me, I have to abandon Liz at homecoming and I feel like a major jerk because even though we were going as friends it’s really rude.”

Thankful they’re still friends and they text every now and then. “I stop Vulture from stealing more alien tech from the Avengers, who decide to not sell the Tower thankfully. Mr. Stark offers to make me an official Avenger and I decline because that was a mess and honestly maybe it’s better for me to just look out for the little guys rather than the whole world, you know? Then me and Mr. Stark start working together in his lab and he’s like my father-figure, third one’s the charm! Then Thanos and the Snap and the Dusting—I was dusted by the way—Reverse Snap and all that, and Harley came to the Tower so he could go to MIT and I have my boyfriend here and that brings us to here.”

He pauses again, his throat really dry. The lights go on and he freezes, but a couple guards walk in, open his cell, and hand him a cup of water. “Oh. Thanks!” he says before drinking all of it in one gulp. “Do you uh-” One of the guards takes the cup, they close his cell again, and leave. The lights go back off. “Um, do you want me to continue? Flicker the lights twice for yes.”

The lights do just that and he smiles. “Okay so there’s not much left to say, I mean like I said that brings us to right now… Oh wait! I bet you’re wondering why I’m not at MIT too, because I probably could if I wanted. Honestly, I want to experience high school with everyone my age, plus I didn’t have enough money for college. I mean now Mr. Stark could afford to but I’m not interesting in his money, plus Harls is doing all the hard work so I’m just going to copy the stuff he does that works and not do the stuff that doesn’t work for him. So that’s my life so far!”


	37. Interrupting HYDRA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HYDRA’s back and it’s annoying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knock knock  
> Who’s there?  
> Interrupting HYDRA  
> Interrupting HYDRA-  
> *attacks*
> 
> EDIT: so originally Loki used fae/faer pronouns, however someone alerted me to the hatred between Norse and Celtic people, so that’s like, extremely disrespectful. I’m sorry about any insult I accidentally made, Loki uses xe/xem pronouns in this (I used find&replace so I understand that it may be a little awkward, sorry about that) to remedy my mistake.

The elevator opens, someone walking out into the room, but Wanda doesn’t bother to turn around, curling up into Loki’s side more as Harley snores next to her. She can sense the person walking up to them, but they aren’t a threat so she ignores them in favor of sleeping. Their hand lightly touches her shoulder, then the person lays down behind her, probably hanging off the side of the couch but whatever, that’s how couch sleeping works at the Tower. 

She drifts between sleep and resting for a while, she has no idea how long it’s been before Harley wakes up and immediately says, “When did we get here?”

“I told you to sleep,” Loki replies, clearly already awake. 

“Hypocrite,” she whispers, not opening her eyes.

“I slept too,” Loki argues quietly. “I’ve only been awake since Vision came in.”

Wanda’s eyes shoot open. “Vis?” she asks, trying not to be too hopeful but wishing that what she heard is true. 

The person behind her shifts and their slightly British voice sounds from somewhere slightly above her head, where their head always is when they lay next to her because of their height, “Hello Wanda.” She doesn’t waste a second and turns around to face them, only to shift too much and push her partner off the couch. “Ow.” Their voice is completely emotionless when they say it, causing Loki and Harley to burst into laughter.

She leans over the couch edge to look down at them, sprawled out next to the couch on the floor. “The most human robot, who can’t feel pain, says ‘ow’ when they fall off the couch,” Harley gasps between laughs. “Only here. Only in this crazy timeline could that happen.”

“Vis are you okay?” Wanda asks, watching their moments like a hawk, trying to see if they’re injured at all. Not from the fall, but from their mission which they probably just came from. 

“I’m alright Wanda,” her partner says with a calm smile, sitting up to face her, their heads level with each other. “Are you alright darling?” Only now does she realize that they have their human appearance on, but their eyes are always that bright blue that if you look close enough turns into a metallic blue, which fits considering everything.

“No,” Wanda answers truthfully, “but it’s better now that you’re here.”

Vision smiles and kisses her softly, reassuringly. It’s short, but it warms her heart and melts her heart. This is home, warm and safe with her family. Then Loki rolls her off the couch and she ends up on top of her partner, Harley and Loki cackling in the background. She rolls her eyes and pecks her partner’s lips before sitting up so they can too.

“Hey everyone, FRIDAY’s back online thanks to Ned so-” Tony cuts himself off as he takes in the room. “Right, for my sanity we’re going to ignore everything going on here. Anyway FRIDAY’s been on for a couple hours but y’all were asleep so I didn’t bother to say anything. And Bucky made lunch.”

Harley launches himself at the elevator but misses and lands on Tony, who falls immediately. Wanda gets up, holding out a hand to Vision, who grabs it and stands up as well. Loki gracefully gets up as well, stepping over Harley and Tony to get into the elevator, Wanda and Vision following xyr. “Good bye,” xe says before signally to FRIDAY to close the doors. The last thing Wanda sees is Harley’s wide eyes as he reaches for the closing doors. Then FRIDAY sends them to the communal dining room.

“You think they’ll start plotting revenge?” Loki asks with a smile.

“Undoubtedly,” Vision replies, Wanda leaning against them. 

“Good,” she says. “We’ll-”

The elevator stops and is flooded with red light. “HYDRA agents spotted!” FRIDAY yells. “National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.”

“Shit,” Loki curses. “Who’s nearest?” xe asks, clothes changing from casual to leather armor, no helmet yet but that’ll probably appease soon. 

“Honey Bear and Birb.” Rhodey and Sam.

“Are they alerted?” Wanda asks.

“Yes and they are going to engage the agents now,” FRIDAY answers. 

“Loki do you have enough magic to get us to D.C.?” Vision asks, turning to Loki, their robotic appearance out.

Xe grins. “Oh I have more than enough,” xe says, a dark blue portal appearing in front of them. “You two go, I’ll collect the others.”

“Got it.” Wanda moves to step into the portal, but Loki’s arm stops her. “Wha-”

“You may prefer this,” xe says, holding out her jacket. 

She smiles and nods, grabbing the jacket. Then she steps into the portal with Vision and they step out onto the walk in front of the museum. She sheds Vision’s sweater and pulls her jacket on, it’s not the best but it’s armored enough that she should be fine. She wore something similar to this while battling Thanos and she nearly killed him so it should be fine for this.

“Ready?” she asks Vision, red magic already swirling around her fingers.

“Always,” he answers, sharing a smile with her before they run into the museum. Immediately they see Sam guiding civilians towards an exit. 

“Oh good,” Sam says, glancing around for more civilians before closing the door, “you’re here too.” 

“What’s the situation?” Wanda asks, looking around too. It’s strangely quiet, no physical damage besides maps of the museum crumpled and stepped on scattered all over the floor, showing a quick and sudden rush to escape. 

“Well,” Sam says, walking over to them, “we have them trapped on the third floor, Rhodes is up there fighting and sending civs done here. The police have the building surrounded, but they’re not equipped to handle HYDRA, so we’re on our own to fight them.”

“Not alone now,” Bucky’s voice grumbles from behind them. Wanda turns to see Steve, Bucky, Tony, and Loki standing behind them.

“Who wants to bet they’re trying to steal the old men’s stuff?” Tony asks, helmet not on. 

“Let’s just get these guys,” Steve says, adjusting his shield. “We have lunch waiting for us.”

With that, they walk up the main stairs, guns and magic just waiting to be let loose. They split up once they clear the second floor, Wanda, Vision, and Tony going up the main staircase to the third floor while Steve, Bucky, and Loki go up a back staircase and Sam goes up to the roof and comes in from there. Vision takes the lead and Wanda stays in the back as they walk up the stairs, the sounds of gunshots and breaking glass getting louder as they approach the floor. Tony knocks out every camera he sees, but there aren’t any agents on the stairs, odd considering it’s the main one. 

Vision kicks down the door immediately bullets start flooding in. Most hit Vision, which does nothing against their vibranium body, though some fly around him, hitting Tony’s suit, which also does nothing against him. Wanda throws up a shield in front of her, in case any bullets come for her. 

The bullets pause and that’s when they attack, Vision mowing down the agents in front of them as they walk out of the staircase, Tony blasting at guys while she leaps into the thick of it, knocking people out left and right. She can hear more heading their way and she throws a hand out, going into their minds just enough to knock them unconscious, nothing more. The room is clear and Vision starts moving towards the sound of gunfire, so she and Tony follow them, fighting every agent they see. Eventually they make it into the room and surprise surprise, it’s the room dedicated to Steve, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos. 

HYDRA agents fill the room, Rhodey standing in front of the main display, the one with all the uniforms. The glass behind him isn’t broken, probably because it’s bullet proof due to the ‘priceless artifacts’ it houses, though personally the silly Captain America costume doesn’t exactly scream priceless. The other displays are broken though, the glass informational things shot down. Everyone turns to look at the trio. 

“Hi,” Tony says. The agents open fire and they do the same, Wanda taking on the ones to the right while Vision takes the ones on the left, Tony dealing with the ones in the middle with Rhodey. They’re out quickly, right as Steve and Bucky show up. 

“Looks like you guys got all the fun,” Steve says, nudging an agent’s shoulder with his toe. 

“Yeah sure,” Sam says, walking in, suit torn up. “You guys getaway with a few scrapes and I end up dealing with ten guys.”

“But you got out,” Loki points out, materializing in the room. 

“How’d you get here?” Rhodey asks, standing next to Tony. “I thought you were in New York?”

“Thought it’d be fun to take a roadtrip,” Tony says, clapping Rhodey’s back. “Now, you wanna come back with us and let the police deal with them?”

“Sure,” Sam replies. 

“I’ll go talk to them,” Steve decides, walking out of the room. 

Bucky sighs. “I’m going with him, we’ll take a Quinjet back. There better be leftovers or less I’m uploading videos of you guys to the internet.” With that threat hanging in the air, he leaves. 

“Well, now that we’re all scared of his blackmail, let’s go have lunch,” Tony says, gesturing at Loki. “Elsa, if you would.”

“For the last time, I’m not Elsa,” Loki argues, opening the portal. They end up in the dining room, where a bunch of spaghetti in at least five giant bowls sit on the table. Loki sits down immediately, serving xemself. Everyone else sits down too, grabbing food before they crash and can’t grab the serving spoon.

“What were they after?” Tony asks, shoveling food into his mouth. “Besides sickening diaries of how much they love each other.”

“I have no idea man,” Rhodey says, grabbing Tony’s hand, “but you gotta slow down before you choke.”

“I’m forty years old Honey Bear, I’m not gonna choke,” Tony assures, before choking. 

Wanda just bites her breadstick as Rhodey saves him. This happens at least once after a battle, Tony eating too much then choking. Usually whoever’s closest to him saves him, then FRIDAY sends the bots to clean up, which usually only takes about five minutes. She can feel her energy crashing as she eats, adrenaline no longer needed and magic drained. Not too much, but enough that she’ll need another nap. Wanda fights it though, needing to ask Tony about the plan for Peter.

“Tony?” she asks. 

“Hmm?” He looks up at her, fork in mouth. She fights the urge to laugh, because it’s just so Tony. But she needs to know before she naps, so she pushes the laughter back.

“What are we doing to get Peter back?” Instantly the mood shifts, from tired but joyful to tired and tense.

“Back?” Vision asks, turning to her, confused. Oh. They don’t know… 

Her heart breaks, but she breaks the news to them. “MJ, Ned, and Peter were kidnapped by a man named Mysterio-”

“Quentin Beck,” Tony corrects Wanda. “He was an employee of mine, created BARF actually, but he was unstable, deranged, so he was fired. Now he’s come back for his revenge I guess, just like the others.” 

She winces, knowing she used to be one of those people, but continues. “He ransomed them for EDITH, a powerful AI Tony created. When we went to exchange things, we got Ned and MJ back but not Peter. Both are at the Compound, getting medical attention.”

“Are they alright?” Vision asks, concern in their voice.

“They’re healing and are going to be alright,” Wanda reassures. “We still need to get Peter back though.”

“And I may help with that,” Loki speaks up. “When I left Mysterio, I ended up on Svartalfheim, then Heimdall opened the Bifrost, which took me to Asgard. While there Heimdall told me that Peter is being held in Germany, near Berlin. He was unharmed when Heimdall and I talked.”


	38. Science Experiments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey Peter, how's it going?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: morgues, dead bodies, unethical experiments
> 
> Also I updated the tags, please check them out. And I haven't given this a 'graphic description of violence' warning yet, but chapter 40 may change that. Things.... are not going well for our favorite spider son.

It’s probably been around a day since Mysterio took MJ and Ned. Guards come in, open the cell, place a plastic tray with a plastic plate full of grey-looking stuff on it, a plastic spoon, and a plastic cup of water, he eats it all, they take away everything. This happens three times, so Peter assumes that was a full day. The gruel is bland, almost tasteless, but it’s filling. He feels about the same as when he wasn’t lock in a cell by a fish-bowl loving dude who tricked him out of the Tower, tortured his friends, manipulated his family into giving him EDITH, and then tried to claim his friends were dead. You know, because everything’s completely normal and stuff.

He tries to do stuff, keep himself from going crazy. Climbs the walls, walks across the ceiling, tries to mime jump roping on the ceiling. Eventually he starts monologuing again, talking through equations and how to get the perfect baking soda volcano, eventually going on to talking about how 9/11 inflicted mass trauma onto everyone in the USA old enough to remember and how that’s affected how police and the country in general works, leading into a very us vs them mentality and not helping the fact that the USA spends too much on their military and not enough on supporting Americans. Thanks psychology class that he took last year.

He’s in the middle of talking through theories of who killed JFK and why Bucky is definitely a contender to consider, though he still thinks the government has something to do with it, when Mysterio walks in, footsteps sounding against the floor with a finality Peter really doesn’t like. This time guards follow behind him, not the usual ones though, these have different uniforms, more bulky, probably with more protection, shade of black darker than the usual guards. Mysterio is changing things up as well, not wearing his fish bowl anymore, face cold as stone as he walks, posture straight, confidence coming off of him in waves. Not a good sign, considering which sides he and Peter are on. If he’s happy, then Peter is in deep shit. 

When Mysterio stops in front of his cell, the new guards spread out behind him and around the cell, a red emblem on their shoulders coming into focus. It’s a bright but dark red, with squiggles inside of it. No, not squiggles... is it a crest instead of an emblem? Wait no... Peter focuses on the closest one, trying to figure out what it is without getting closer. It looks... it looks like a- a symbol. With eight legs- no, eight tentacles. And a black skull above it. 

Wait a minute... that’s HYDRA symbol he realizes, 

A chill runs down his spine, as if the air suddenly turned to ice. He thought HYDRA was finally dead, Steve and Bucky had hunted them down with Sam and Nat. If HYDRA’s back, and involved in this,... what could they do with EDITH? Could they take over SHIELD again? Could they get into the government again? What terrors are they going to unleash if they have EDITH?

“You brought Neo-Nazis?” Peter tries to joke, eyes darting between Mysterio and the soldiers, trying to calculate if he could take on all of them at once. He has to get out of here, and while he’d prefer to wait for a better time, he is not letting HYDRA come any closer to him. If he moves quick enough, they may not be able to shoot him, especially if he keeps it close quarters, so they’d end up shooting their own if they shot him. It looks like there’s about fifteen of them, and he doesn’t know what Mysterio’s fighting is like, but he should be able to take them on... He doesn’t have his webs so he may have to take a weapon or just knock them out with his punches but it should work...

Mysterio gestures to the soldiers near the control panel, eyes never leaving Peter’s. The glass retracts into the wall as the soldiers take out sticks, which aren’t too threatening, until they hit something and the ends spark up with blue electricity, making them look like tasers or Nat’s Widow Bites, and Peter backs away from the glass, back hitting the wall. He can’t avoid fifteen taser-things, not in this tight quarters without his webs or a weapon. HYDRA soldiers enter the cell, Peter crawling up the wall. “The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the wall,” Mysterio laughs. The soldiers start attacking him with taser-looking things, Peter scrambling around to avoid them. “In came the soldiers,” one of them hits him with the taser-thing and he screams, his body jerking around as his muscles seize and he loses his grip, “and took the spider away.” He falls to ground, the soldiers backing away none of them catch his fall.

A soldier forces him into handcuffs, dragging his unresponsive body. He can’t move, can’t think, all he can see is Mysterio’s sneer as he’s dragged out of the cell, the glass falling back into place behind him. Mysterio crouches, hand snatching up his jaw and holding on with a grip of steel, fingers digging into his skin. 

“Well, well, well,” he chuckles, leaning in. “Looks like you’re leaving Peter. But don’t worry, HYDRA will take good care of you.” He releases Peter’s jaw and stands up, gesturing at the soldiers. “You’re free to take him now.” One of the soldiers, probably the leader, nods and then turns to Peter. The last thing he sees is the taser-thing, blue electricity playing along the tip. Then nothing.

Feeling slowly returns to his fingers and toes, then spreads upwards until he can feel the warm metal underneath him along with the smooth padding. He flexes his feet and toes, until he’s stopped by padding. Peter tries the same with his wrists and hands, only for the same thing happen. He tries to arch up, but finds something wrapped around both legs, his waist, and his chest. Trying to break free proves impossible, the metal must be something close to vibranium because he can’t seem to break free. 

Huffing, he reaches out with his senses, not ready to open his eyes yet. He can feel how bright the lights are, the heat falling on his skin. There’s quiet sounds of electronics, small beeps and whirls, a faint hum acting as a background. The air smells like a hospital, sterile, with a blend of bleach, hand sanitizer, and very weak lemon. It’s odd, and not something he’d think HYDRA would have. 

Slowly, he cracks his eyes open, letting them adjust before opening them more. Once that’s done, he looks around. Grey ceiling, cream white floor with smooth tiles from what it looks like, hospital white walls. Medical equipment scattered around the room, IVs hanging loosely, a metal table with a white tray of scalpels and saws and stuff that makes his hair prick up and makes him sincerely wish those aren’t meant for him. Of course, knowing his luck, they are most definitely meant for him. 

He licks his lips, wondering how long it’s been for them to get so chapped. “Hello?” he calls out, wanting someone to be out there and yet hoping there’s no one there. Maybe, if no one’s there, it’ll delay the inevitable. 

“Oh, hello there!” someone says, popping into his vision. They have bright sky blue hair, done up in a bun with an undershave, eyes dark brown, skin like a caramel mocha iced coffee he once saw Nat down and then declare disgusting. Not a great analogy but whatever. They’re wearing a dark blue turtleneck and black pants, with a silvery white lab coat. “I didn’t think you’d be up for another hour,” they confess, bustling around, arranging stuff. “’Course that’s probably the enhanced part of you.”

“Who are you?” Peter asks, watching their every move. They push the cart with the tray closer, then pull an IV over to his side. 

“Who, me?” They look at him than laugh. “Oh sorry, I’m usually the one everyone ignores. I’m Doctor Monica Avelli, she/her pronouns, I majored in Biology, mainly body science, and Forensics.” She smiles nervously at him, fiddling with a pen.

“Uh, I’m Peter, Peter Parker, he/him. I’ve haven’t majored in anything.” She laughs. “Um, where am I?”

“Oh! Right, right, sorry,” she walks behind his field of vision, the sound of shuffling papers before she comes back into view, pressing a button. “Hang on, let’s get you up.” Whatever he’s on moves like a dentist seat so he sits up to face her better. “That’s much better.”

“Thank you,” he says, noticing more equipment and a desk with a holder of pens and pencils on it. 

She chuckles. “Oh, don’t thank me yet.” She pulls a swivel chair over and sits down with a clipboard and a pen. “They didn’t exactly tell me everything about you, so can you fill in the gaps for me? Anything too personal and you just have to say the word.”

“What’s this about?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, I haven’t explained anything yet have I?” she asks ruefully. Doctor Avelli sighs. “Alright, let’s start at the beginning. I was studying at this morgue in Idaho, odd start I know but bear with me. So I’m working at the morgue, when this guys in black show up and basically threaten me at gunpoint to stitch them up, I’m talking gunshots and knife wounds stuff. I stitch them up and then one of the guys gets a call from someone. He didn’t walk away, he just took the call right as I was stitching up the last guy. The call was something about superhumans and someone they only called the Asset.” Bucky. So this must have happened sometime before Thanos but before Steve got Bucky.

“They were HYDRA?” It’s a rhetorical question, he knows it was them.

“Yeah,” she says with a sigh. “When the call ended, the guy turned to me and asked about my education. I told him what I told you just a minute or two ago, and I guess he heard something he liked because next thing I knew the guys were splitting up, most going into a black van and the leader and another taking my car with me in it. Eventually we got to some underground facility I guess, took me to a lab with like, ten bodies in it, and told me to stay there. Soon some guy, another scientist I think, I have no idea what he did, came in and basically explained everything. Either I work to figure out what modifications HYDRA scientists did to the bodies, you know, before they died, or they’d kill me. I’d like to say I said no and then they threatened my family, but HYDRA offered me something I couldn’t refuse. I- I’ve always wondered what humans could do if we were enhanced, if we could age less, think faster, sense more. And they offered it all to me on a silver platter. So,” she says, crossing her legs and smiling sheepishly, “I said yes.” Peter’s blood runs cold. “It’s turned out well for me, I’d say,” she muses. “I mean, they faked my death but honestly?” She leans in, as if sharing him a secret. “I like this a lot better. I get a budget and I do my experiments, hand over my results and ideas for how they can use it, and they let me do whatever. It’s like a dream.”

“So you help these Nazis kill people,” Peter spits out, horrified at what she says. “You just, let people die. You experiment on people, you commit crimes against basic human rights, and you enjoy this?”

She pauses, taps her chin in thought before grinning. “Yep!” 

“That’s wrong.”

“Oh I know,” she says, standing up. “But now that you’re all caught up, we better get back on task. Full name?” Peter stares at her and she just smiles back. “Look you’re going to be here a while, so you might as well work with me.”

“Peter Benjamin Parker.” If he refuses she’ll probably just torture him, at least she’s being honest with him.

“Age?”

“Seventeen years old.”

“Born chromosomes?”

“XX.”

“And your gender?”

“Male.”

“Any gender surgeries? You take T or are you making the right balance now?” He is not telling her that. “Okay okay, awkward question I know.” He rolls his eyes. “How about this,” she says. “Think of me as your doctor. I’m not interested in you at all, I’m not here to shame you, I’m only here to get your medical stuff down so I know what to expect.”

“I got top and bottom surgery, I don’t have to take T anymore.”

“Oh nice, I mean I could have gotten you T but it’d cut into my funds and while it’d be worth it I was kinda worried. Alright, any allergies?”

“Peppermint.”

“Taste or touch, what reactions do you get, what’s the dosage?”

“I- um, I can touch it and smell it but I can’t have anything with mint in it. My throat gets inflamed, and if it’s enough it would probably shut down my heart.”

“Fascinating!” she says, writing everything down. “I have more to get down but let’s try a little experiment, shall we?” She stands up, pushing her chair away and strolling over to the chart with the tray, picking up one of the scalpels. “Let’s test that healing factor of yours.” 

Peter struggles against the bonds, trying to get away as she walks closer, smiling as if she weren’t staring down at him with a knife in her hand. “Don’t- please-”

“Oh hush,” she says before she touches the tip to the soft skin of his inner elbow and presses down.


	39. Shattered Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mysterio's next play is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT YOU NEED TO READ!!
> 
> I've changed the Archive Warnings to Graphic Violence. It's getting worse.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS: blood, graphic description of a cut bleeding and then healing

“Unharmed when Heimdall last saw him,” Harley repeats, walking into the room after listening at the doorway for a minute. “But since this Beck guy shot MJ just because we didn’t follow his orders right away, there’s not much saying Peter’s going to stay safe.” He takes a seat in between Loki and Tony. 

“But Beck wouldn’t hurt him simply because he felt like it,” Loki points out, nibbling on a breadstick. “He’s mad but not without thought. If he hurt Peter, he’d do it to punish us.”

“Me and Brucie got FRIDAY fixed so at least Beck won’t be talking to us through that,” Tony says. “If he has something to say, he’ll have to figure it out himself.”

They eat for a minute before Loki glances up and says, “He/him please.” Harley nods and grabs more food.

“Boss?” FRIDAY’s voice asks, Harley instinctively looking up at the ceiling as everyone stops what they’re doing.

“Yes baby girl?”

“There’s a package on the roof of the Tower,” she says. “No explosives as far as my scanners can see, roughly one foot by one foot by five inches. It’s a cardboard box, plain brown, with something electronic inside.”

“Just in case, I better bring it down,” Vision says, standing up.”

“Vis,” Wanda warns, looking up at them.

“I’ll be alright Wanda darling,” Vision reassures, holding her hand. “Trust me.” She sighs but nods, letting go of them. Vision nods to everyone and flies up through the ceiling, Harley grabbing some food as they wait for Vision to come back. Give it about a minute, maybe? Just grabbing a box and bringing it back down with them.

Vision lands next to Tony, hands him the box, and sits down next to Wanda. “It appears safe.” 

Everyone stares at the box unsure of what to do. Harley sips water to keep from lunging at the box. It’s gotta be from Beck, who else would it be? HYDRA would leave a bomb behind but Beck seems the type to do mind games, to stall and prolong the tension, which what this box is doing to him. 

Eventually, Tony pulls the tape off and unfolds the side flaps. He pulls out of the box a black screen, like a StarkPad but not. “What the hell?”

The screen lights up and Tony throws it at the door, Wanda catching it before it hits the door as the door opens. “Well,” Steve says, eyes wide as he stares at the floating screen right in front of him, “are we not invited then?”

Bucky looks at the still-floating screen, standing behind Steve. “Rude.” 

“He threw it,” Harley says, pointing at Tony, throwing him under the bus immediately. Better Tony than himself.

“Yeah because it light up after I did nothing to it!” Tony protests. “Can I have it back Wanda?” She shrugs and floats it over to Tony while Steve and Bucky sit down next to Sam. “Alight let’s see what this does.” Harley leans over and looks at the screen, which is just white. 

“Well that’s not helpful,” Harley snaps. “It’s a blank screen.”

Black text appears on the screen. “ ‘Go to any live news’,” Tony reads. “What the fuck?”

“FRIDAY?” Sam asks. 

“On it.” The TV on the wall lights up and goes to a random newscast, covering the weather forecast for the week in the New York area. 

“Is that what we’re supposed to-” Sam’s cut off when the meteorologist and their report is replaced by Mysterio, in his bowl helmet thing, in what looks like a medical room, based on all the medical equipment in the background. “Shit.”

“He’s going public,” Loki says, knuckles white as he grips the table’s edge. 

“Fuck,” Harley breathes, watching Mysterio snap his gloved fingers. 

“Hello everyone,” he says, “I hope I have your attention. I am projecting this to all newscasts as well as sportcasts so I have to assume I’m reaching everyone. I mean,” he laughs and Harley wants to punch his bowl helmet into glass, “even I miss some people, they’ll see it eventually. Anyway, hello! I’m Mysterio, your new villain.” He pauses.

“Are you tracing this?” he rapid-fires at Tony, knowing they don’t have much time and not wanting to miss a word about Peter. He can see Tony nod as he types at a pop up screen.

“Now now,” Mysterio says, “don’t be scared! I’m not here for any of you citizens, I and my associates are only after the Avengers. You see, Tony Stark stole my research from me and I only wanted it back! But he refused so I just had to get him to listen to me. Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds are interns at Stark Industries I found out on the streets of New York and well, young teens are always good hostages you know?”

A snap and Harley can see Loki holding torn off pieces of plastic and metal in his hands. Tony curses to the other side of Harley.

“But then! When I contacted the Avengers to get my technology back in exchange for the teens, it shocked me to find out they were going to try and double cross me!” It’s like watching an actor feint shock when the audience knows he’s lying, only Harley knows it’s Beck and he holds Peter’s life in his psychopathic hands. This pretend has consequences. “Well I couldn’t let that happened, so I stole someone a bit more important.” He can hear Beck’s smile, how pleased he is about this as Harley’s panic increases. “Of course, people in New York City have probably noticed his absence already.” Beck pauses for dramatics; Harley can hear his heart beating in his ears. “I kidnapped Spider-Man.”

Hair rises on his arms as the air becomes full of static, but not like when Thor’s mad or when the Bifrost is appearing, no the air is charged with magic. He can feel the tension in the charge, a heavy, panic-filled weight to it that is almost humming. Wanda’s hair is floating slightly with thick red strands coating her fingers while Loki’s hands are clenched at his sides, green glowing around him, the air becoming heavier on his side closer to the god. 

He never remembers until moments like this that Loki is a god, not just a superhuman or magic user. Because while Wanda looks scary and he can feel her nerves, it’s nowhere near what’s coming from Loki. There’s no good way to describe it, he isn’t a magic user, it just is. 

“Once I got him, well,” he chuckles, a chill running down Harley’s spine. “They didn’t think about crossing me then. Of course, we had to arrange a meet place, to exchange. Those shots heard at London Bridge? Those were from our little exchange. You see, they didn’t realize at first that when I said to follow me, I meant right away. So, Ms Jones had to be, unfortunately, shot in the leg.” He can hear the shot echo in his memory, the screaming, can see the blood soaking her jeans as Loki hands her to him. “But I received my technology back. Regretfully, to get it back, it required a face to be turned over to, so while I did intend to allow the group assembled to go to the exchange, I had to order their death. Nothing personal, just how life is. However, it seems Loki had been sneaking around and stole my leverage, then portalled everyone away. No matter, I thought, I have my technology back and Spider-Man as a hostage still.” 

He can sense a ‘but’ coming and he is not ready, he doesn’t want to hear Peter being threatened. Steve, Bucky, and Sam are facing the TV, Vision holding Wanda as her magic curls around her, Loki the scariest Harley’s seen him so far, Rhodey’s fists clenched, and Tony typing crazily at a bunch of pop up screens, most likely trying to pinpoint where the hacking video feed is coming from.

“But then, I found out, they hadn’t actually given me my technology back! No, instead they gave me a watered-down version of it. Well, I can’t let them get away with that. So, dear citizens and Avengers, let me introduce Doctor Ave.” 

A young person, probably around mid to late twenties, appears on screen, a black mask hiding their nose and everything below it on their face. They have bright blue hair in a bun with an undershave, dark brown eyes, and light brown skin, dressed in a light purple turtleneck and silvery lab coat. “Hello there!” they greet. “I’m Doctor Ave, she/her pronouns. I’m in charge of Spider-Man’s condition as of now and will be conducting experiments on him. Like the one I performed on him due to the Avengers’ misstep.” 

She and Mysterio walk to the right, the camera following them when it stops on Peter’s unconscious form. He has a sheet pulled over him, hiding everything up to the top of his midsection. Not the scars on his chest though, not the knife or bullet wounds that have healed but scared. His face, just like the doctor, is covered in a black mask, leaving his fluffy curls out, already too much of his identity left out for everyone see. But Harley still sighs in relief because they aren’t showing his face at least. 

“Doctor, if you could please,” Mysterio says, standing to one side as the camera focuses on the doctor. 

“Of course!” she chirps, waving the camera closer. “As you can see,” she says, the camera closing in on Peter, “Spider-Man has been in numerous fights, yet he is enhanced so his healing is heightened. But by how much? How does it works? Well everyone, let me show you what I’ve done.” The camera closes in on Peter’s arm, which has no scars. “I did some tests on Spider-Man, nothing that resulted in a scar yet, though he did yell a bit.” Harley shivers. She’ll pay for that. “If you watch closely, I’ll do a demonstration.” A scalpel enters, blade shiny and clean as it presses down into Peter’s flesh. “Now, I’m cutting a small incision, only about an inch in length and very swallow, so I don’t nick an artery yet.” The scalpel leaves the frame, bloody, as blood starts weeping out of the cut. “Watch.”

Slowly, the cut starts healing. The blood cots, then the edges start knitting themselves back together, until the cut’s completely knitted back together. A latex-gloved hand wipes away the crusted blood to reveal healed skin underneath, no line or scar left to tell the difference. “Two minutes,” Mysterio’s voice says as the camera pans out ward, to capture Peter, Doctor Ave, and Mysterio in one shot. “Fascinating, isn’t it everyone?”

“I’ve done up to ten inches, however that takes much longer and I don’t want to bore anyone watching,” Doctor Ave comments proudly. 

“Thank you Doctor, you’ve helped wonderfully,” Mysterio says, shaking her hand. “Now, Avengers, don’t worry! There is a way to save your young friend here.” He walks to the left, the camera following, until they’re back where they were before they showed Peter. “So, without further ado, welcome to my trials for the Avengers!” 

Rhodey swears. “We’re getting Hunger Gamed.”

“What’re the rules you ask? They’re simple! I give you, the Avengers, a task that has to be done by a certain deadline, and if you don’t meet it or don’t fulfill it completely, Spider-Man will be put through another experiment, filmed and sent to the package you unknowingly picked up just ten minutes ago.”

Had it been ten minutes ago? It feels like he’s been watching this nightmare unfold for hours. 

“And if you miss two trials in total? The experiment will be streamed live for everyone’s enjoyment.” Glass shatters but Harley can’t bother to turn to find it, eyes locked to the screen as Mysterio continues. “If you fail to complete three trials in total, well let’s just say everyone will finally get to know who their hero is behind the mask. You’ll find your first trial out in two hours.” The video cuts out, leaving a horrified weather person staring at the screen as weather patterns move behind them. 

FRIDAY shuts the TV off as the room is filled with stunned, scared silence. Harley looks down at the table to see glasses and containers shattered, food spilled out on the table. All the utensils, all the forks and spoons and butter knives on the table, are twisted beyond fixing, warped into angry forms that look ready to murder anyone that comes near. 

“Tony…” Rhodey starts.

“Nothing,” he whispers back, pained and rough like the broken glass scattered on the table. 


	40. Horrors of Our Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and pain are a duo, a terrible, awful duo, but a duo all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.
> 
> I'm sorry.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: PTSD, trauma, panic attack/sensory overload, nightmares, injuries
> 
> Also: I edited Chapters 34 and 37 because of a mistake on my part. Someone alerted me to the hatred between Norse and Celtic people, so Loki using fae/faer pronouns is extremely disrespectful in that regard. I’m sorry about any insult I accidentally made, Loki uses xe/xem pronouns in the updated chapters as a fix. It doesn’t change the plot at all, just the pronouns.

Doctor Avelli runs cuts up and down his arm, vertical and horizontal. The smell of blood, the tangy, sharp smell filling the room. She cleans the blood away after every cut, but it’s still there, invading his senses. None of the cuts last over twenty minutes, because she’s only done up to ten inch cuts. He tries not to scream at first, but after she begins the four inch cuts, he screams, his voice echoing around the small room. Because while he is enhanced, that also means his sense of pain is heightened as well. He’s grown some tolerance, but that doesn’t help at all. She continues though, not giving him anything for the pain. Eventually he passes out, the pain too much for his senses. 

The pain follows him into his sleep, invading his dreams and turning them to nightmares. It shouldn’t surprise him, it happens every time he forgets to take the medication specially made to work on him. Steve and Bucky can use the same medication, but he can’t because his enhancement is different from theirs. But he’s caught off guard by the intensity of the pain, of the nightmares, the memories, warped and twisted to fit together like a sick kind of puzzle, weaving his trauma into one.

Vulture stands in front of him, wings nowhere to be seen. Peter’s standing in the same place as always, perfectly placed, where the ceiling will fall on him like always. He tries to take a step forward but chains clank, keeping him stuck in place, strong enough to keep him pinned there, waiting for the ceiling to fall, to be slammed into the concrete and labor to get a single breath through his crushed lungs. 

“You seem like a nice guy Peter,” Vulture says, pulling on his leather gloves, “but it’s time you learn to stop meddling.” Metal cuts against concrete, his spider sense screaming at him to run but he can’t, the chains are forcing him down as the building groans, chains wrapping around his wrists, tightening and forcing him to his knees, Vulture laughing in front of him, chains wrapping around his back, his legs, his chest, forcing him down farther, farther, pinning him down like an animal, the wings flying over him and attaching themselves to Vulture’s back, concrete falling onto him, crushing him even farther down into the floor, chain links digging into him.

Black dots dance across his sight until the weight on his back is gone and now he’s free falling, falling away from the spaceship, flames licking at his suit as he re-enters Earth, burning and bright and too much too much too much

He faceplants onto the beach, sand and dirt and dust covering his hands. He scrambles to sit up, rock cutting into his palms, looking up and seeing fore everywhere, burning around him like a ring of death. Through the smoke he can see ruins, old ruins, floating pieces of buildings. Titan. A scream echos around him, he knows that scream, it’s memory haunting him for a year now. He turns and sees Vulture, on fire, screaming in pain. Peter tries to go to him, to save him, but his feet slip underneath the sand and he falls, chains locking onto his ankles, dragging him down down down into the sand, his fingers scratch at the ground, trying to latch onto something, anything, but he’s taken down down into the pit of sand, screams echoing through his mind

Rain soaks into his jeans as he kneels in an alleyway. Ben’s body, dead, lies next to May’s, eyes open, staring out at nothing. Blood pools out from the gunshot wounds in their chests, his hands stained with the blood as he presses against the wounds, desperately trying to save them, trying to keep them from dying. A quiet gasp from behind him and he turns around, screaming as Tony stands in front of him, eyes wide and mouth open as he brings a hand to the knife wound in his stomach, Thanos standing next to him, smirking. Blood pools out over Tony’s hand, staining the gold in his suit with his blood

The courtroom builds itself around him, people yelling at each other as he watches, chained to the witness box. MJ yells at Eugene as Ms Purl yells at Ned and the lawyers yell at each other. Peter tries to say something, to beg them to be quiet or not yell or ask them to stop, when the judge bangs his gavel and yells over everything, “I find them guilty of all charges!” Purl leaps over the row she’s in and grabs his neck, slamming him into the wooden desk. He can’t hear what she’s saying, can’t understand anything going on

He lifts his face out of the dirt and stares in terror as Thanos throws a moon at Tony, the suit disappearing underneath the rumble. He screams, getting up and running towards where Tony disappeared, until a hand wraps around his neck and slams him into the ground, Thanos’ face staring down at him, looking at him as if he’s nothing, worthless. Thanos throws him away, back slamming against a concrete wall, sliding down to lay in a pool of rain water and blood

Fire rages around him, Ben’s body bleeding out as rain pours down, Titan’s ruins floating around him, sand and dirt and metal cutting into his wounds on his hands, Vulture standing in front of him. “Well Peter, this has been fun,” Vulture says.

“But,” Purl continues, appearing next to him, “I think your time’s up.”

“After all,” Thanos drawls in his slow and sickening way, “I control time.” His gauntlet glows with the green light of the Time Stone. 

“And we’d hate to keep him waiting,” the shooter, the man who killed Ben in front of him, finishes.

Mysterio appears, blood on his golden gloves, EDITH over his eyes. “Hello, Peter,” he says, grinning. The flames licking nearer and nearer to their spot reflect in his armor, in the glasses. 

He wakes up screaming, hair plastered to his face and sweat running down his arms, lungs heaving, heart pounding. He can hear his blood rushing through his veins, can hear every whir of fans and the deafening humming of electronics. The lights are off but he can see every single thing, the residual glow of recently turned off lights enough to highlight everything in the room in perfect detail, as clear as if the lights weren’t off in the first place. 

The screaming, his screaming, can’t stop, as if something’s pulling it out of his throat, echoes of pain and terror still thrumming under his skin, in his mind. He knows it sounds like when Dr. Strange was being tortured with the ice needles, but the pain is a roaring fire inside of him and it has to escape somehow, forcing to thrash against his bindings, screaming his throat raw, tears flowing over his cheeks without a thought, just more and more pain that keeps echoing higher and higher inside of him, coiling tighter and tighter around his lungs until he’s cut off, throat raw and lungs unable to move, and he slumps into his bindings, all fight suddenly gone as the pain recedes, and he slips out of consciousness. 

“Welcome back Peter,” Doctor Avelli whispers as he opens his eyes, her face wincing as he looks at her. “Please don’t speak, your throat’s still raw. Actually, try not to move too much if possible. I’m trying to see what damage happened last night.”

Peter tries to move his head but his muscles scream at him and he bites his tongue to keep from screaming with them. 

She winces again and writes something before grabbing some salve. “Okay, so when I saw don’t move I mean it.” She rubs the salve into his neck. “Is your tongue bleeding? Blink twice if yes.” He can’t taste any copper so he keeps his eyes open for five seconds. “No blood, that’s good. Not much I can do if your tongue’s bleeding.” She turns pulls out some ice packs from behind him and starts applying them along the bindings. “So um, you blackout out during my experiment. Sorry about that, I forgot to pace myself. Then Mysterio wanted to send a video to the Avengers, but they kicked him out of the AI in Stark Tower so he broadcasted it to all the news and sports networks. Anyway, we covered your face in a mask and only did an inch long cut as a demo, after that I locked up the room because I sleep too you know?” 

Doctor Avelli blows a hair out of her face, laying a damp towel around his neck before sitting back into her chair. “Anyway, I woke up to screaming. Really, really loud screaming. And I know I gave off the impression that I do experiments on enhanced people, which I do, but I don’t like the screaming part. It honestly freaks me out a lot, not like your kinda in pain screaming but like, the dying kind of scream. There’s a reason everyone keeps me away from the torture room unless I have to be there.” She looks off, as if watching something he can’t see. Then she shakes her head and focuses back on him. 

“Point is, I heard screaming so I went to investigate because usually they keep that stuff away from my room. You were asleep, thrashing across in the chair, screaming. Nightmare I assume, your breathing and brain activity suggested that you were still asleep then. I was going to try and wake you up, when you woke up by yourself.” She shivers. “You were screaming louder than you were before, fighting with the straps even more than you were in your sleep. It was terrifying to watch because frankly, I don’t know how to deal with that. I’m not someone you trust, so seeing me would probably have only hurt you more, and I had no idea if you were in a sense overload or panic attack or still caught up in your nightmare.”

She gets up, shifting ice packs as she continues. “You knocked yourself out some after that, I’ve been doing damage analysis and bandaging you up as best as I can since then. You um, almost broke your leg with how hard you were moving, there’s a lot of internal bleeding, your throat’s still raw from all the screaming, though it’s healing up fast, and all your muscles are still recovering from the stress you put them through. You’re on the mend, thankfully, but no more experiments until you’re all healed up.” 

Doctor Avelli disappears behind him then reappears with a cup and a straw. “Technically I could stick a line into you to pump you with all the nutrients you need, but I can’t exactly ice your throat and this is the best I have. Strawberry and banana smoothie, nothing bigger than something you can swallow in it.” She tips the straw towards him. Peter slowly opens his mouth to allow the straw in, and sucks the smoothie up. It’s good. The coolness feels incredible on his throat, smoothing it. He downs the whole thing in ten minutes.

“Thanks,” he croaks out. It’s not great, but he knows his throat is already doing better. 

“Please, don’t thank me,” Doctor Avelli says as she takes the cup away. “I hate it when they say thank you.”

He frown at her, not understanding. What does she mean by ‘they’? 

She turns and sees his face. “Ah, I’ve confused you again. Sorry.” She sits down in her chair, staring out at something he can’t see. “I told you that I’ve worked on enhanced people before, whoever HYDRA brings me to study. And it’s fine, I enjoy figuring out what enhancements were made and how and what that affects in the person. But I hate it when they first see me, when they see a scientist, a doctor, someone who talks to them about myself and is up front with them. They see me as some kind of neutral party, not good but not bad. And sure, I keep them healthy, treat them sometimes when I know the experiment has been rough, but I’m still experimenting on them, I’m the one keeping them locked up because of something out of their control. So I hate when they thank me, because I don’t deserve their thanks. I’m a terrible person and I’ve accepted that I long time ago. So please,” she turns to look at Peter, “don’t ever thank me.”


	41. Plans Take Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Mysterio's announcement.

**dying insde@theofficeismyonegod**

have you seen what Mysterio is doing to **@officalSpider-Man** ? Here’s the video if you didn’t see it, warning there is blood and a scalpel shown: [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mysterio+drAvelli/spider-man&avengers52783 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ab_channel=RickAstleyVEVO)

**BLM@ironstan**

this shit is insane, what the hell are they doing?? threatening the **@Avengers** by using **@officalSpider-Man** is awful!

**The New Yorker@TheNewYorker**

New villain Mysterio, aided by Doctor Ave, is threatening the **@Avengers** by torturing **@officalSpider-Man** . See full video here (warning, blood): [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mysterio+drAvelli/spider-man&avengers52783 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ab_channel=RickAstleyVEVO)

* * *

They move to the war room after that, everyone exhausted and tired, still in whatever they were wearing when they sat down to eat, sweat stained and dust covered. Loki takes his seat, glancing at the empty seat next to him as Harley frames it, an iron band wrapping around his lungs at the sight. 

Peter’s okay, he just saw that, but at what cost? His identity could be revealed, people are no doubt already scrambling to try and match the hair to someone. Not to mention the helplessness of watching someone cut Peter’s arm and being able to do nothing. The fact that Peter was unconscious while it happened is meaningless, because he was unconscious because they experimented on him and pushed him too much. 

That’s not Peter, that’s not what Peter’s supposed to have to deal with. The whole point of Peter is that he’s kind and sweet and a complete cinnamon roll, not someone to be tortured or hurt or kidnapped or held for ransom for something they don’t even know yet. He’s supposed to be _safe_.

Silence coats the room as everyone finishes filing into their seats, no one ready to talk. But they have to, they have to make a plan. Peter needs to get out of there, they need to get him out of there.

“I can preform the tracking spell,” Loki speaks, breaking the silence. He can feel every gaze snap to him, can feel the desperation in the air and he hates it, hates the knowledge that they’re all scared of what could be happening to Peter. “We know Beck was near Berlin yesterday, and while he may not be now, it is a good place to start. I have his hair so once there I can use a tracking spell to find him, and thus his base.”

“What if Peter isn’t where Beck is?” Tony asks tiredly, pain having destroyed his in-control attitude. “What do we do then?”

Loki glances around, gauging how he should phrase it. This is Peter, Tony’s son, their brother, their nephew. Not by blood, but by choice. By love. They are family, whether they like it or not. And family does whatever is necessary for family. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs. 

He’s done terrible things, horrendous crimes against millions of people. What’s one more stain on his soul, if it’s for Peter?

“Torture,” he states coldly, slipping into his protective mask. “Force him to tell us. Break his mind like a toothpick if I must. Whatever it takes to find where he is.” 

His family nods, once. They understand and agree. It’s chilling to see those that play by such strict moral codes, people who are revered globally to have iron morals, acknowledge that they will defy the law, break those codes, lay waste decades of ethics, for one person. But he understands. Thor has done it for him countless times; he has done it on occasion. Heimdall has done the same dozens of times for the good of their people. It is a defining characteristic of people’s relationships, the knowledge that they will do anything, destroy worlds, for just one person they love. That is what family, what love, is, after all. 

It’s almost comforting to be surrounded by people who feel his rage, who share it, who are ready to use that weapon of rage.

“HYDRA will be working with him,” Wanda speaks up. He looks over at her and notes her faint tremble, the way she’s leaning into Vision. It could be adrenaline leaving her, it could be the sight of Peter, it could be the fight she just had with her former captors. But Loki doesn’t think so, not like this. He knows her, knows how she acts. She saw something, someone, she never wanted to see again. 

“What makes you say that?” Sam asks. Loki can feel the questions circling in everyone’s minds. Did she recognize someone? Is Peter being held where she once was? How does she know that?

“The doctor…” she whispers, eyes not rising to meet any of their eyes. “Her name’s not Ave. It’s Doctor Monica Avelli. She works with HYDRA.” Wanda knows her, the doctor must have experimented on her before, maybe she was part of the team who enhanced her and Pietro. Maybe she was part of the team who turned Wanda and Pietro from human to other.

“What’d she do?” Rhodey asks, breaking the gathering silence among them. “Is she a big HYDRA person or no?”

Loki watches as Wanda takes a deep breath before replying. “It’s… complicated.”

Nat leans forward, elbows on the table. “Explain it to us,” she orders. 

“She worked at a morgue before HYDRA,” Wanda starts. “HYDRA came in, forced her to treat them because she’s also a good medical doctor. She heard too much but she also had degrees they wanted so they took her. One of the scientists there explained what was going on and she accepted their offer to let her work there.”

“Hold up,” Steve says. “She knew what they were doing. She knew, and she accepted?”

Wanda nods. “Dr. Avelli just wants to be able to experiment, she doesn’t care about the ethics of them. She joined HYDRA because of that.”

“Sorry if I sound skeptical,” Rhodey says, “but you mean to tell me that you remember some HYDRA doctor’s life story from what,three, four years ago?”

“She likes to talk to us,” Wanda replies, knuckles white as she grips Vision’s hand. “In between experiments, during it, before, after, whenever she wanted really. Greeted everyone on their first day in there with her name, pronouns, degrees, and life story. Made sure we knew she wasn’t sorry for what she did but wouldn’t torture us for the sake of torture. She had- has, a method to everything she does. Kept us healthy, wouldn’t do anything until after we fully recovered from the last experiment.” 

Loki shivers, hating how familiar that sounds. Someone who does evil things and isn’t sorry but does take care of the people she deals with. It’s too similar to his life under Thanos’ torture, being tortured but knowing it’s not personal, talking with both of his daughters. Gamora was always the more open-hearted of the two, she understood wanting to protect a people. Nebula was much more closed off, only caring about the ones who had earned it. Neither were sorry for the things their adopted father did to him, but neither were they cruel to him. A calm indifference while still interacting, if he had to sum it up.

“You knew her well?” Harley asks, finally speaking.

“I guess?” Wanda answers. “No one really knew her, and we were only with her for a few months before they moved her out of Slovakia. But we did interact.”

“What is she like?” Nat asks. He can hear the sharp intake of breath from Wanda, can hear her uneven breath. 

Loki wishes he could tell her to stop, to not put her through more pain, but he can sense that she needs to tell the story. She’s been holding it in for too long now. “When we signed up, we didn’t know what we were getting into. We knew HYDRA would experiment on us, change us so we could get our revenge, but we didn’t know everything they would do to us.”

He has to dig his fingers into his forearms to keep from shivering at the memories this is bringing up. The needles of ice forcing him to feel cold, to feel something he’s never felt before. His stomach aching, knowing there’s nothing he can do, being shoved out of his own mind, forcing him to watch as he was puppeted into doing things he’d never do, saying things he’d never say. “We never do,” he whispers in agreement. He can feel Wanda’s knowing look, understanding what he means.

“They didn’t know what the stone did, they just wanted it to affect us. I-I can’t say what exactly they did to us, I don’t know if it was one experiment that created us or if it was a collection of them, if one experiment created Pietro and one made me, and to be honest I never want to know. But she was there, she was one of them. She enjoyed seeing what we could do, to test all the effects it had on us. Our strength, our senses, our blood. She wanted to know all of it,” Wanda recounts, pain lacing every word as they pour out. “She pushed us to our limits, pushed our endurance, made us grow. I remember laying on my bed late at night, feeling as if I was about to die.” Her face moves from pain to conflictedness, as if she doesn’t understand her memories herself. “And she would come to me, dressed in that silver labcoat she always wore, handing me a piece of chocolate, talking to me about her findings and how much we were growing in power. Little did I know,” she laughs without humor, “that she laced that chocolate with a sleeping pill, to knock me out so I could sleep. She was odd like that, doing bad things but still being kind to us. Everyone else just did what they wanted without doing anything else.”

“So, basically, she’s a scientist that doesn’t abide by ethics, but will be nice to the people she experiments on?” Tony summarizes, Wanda nodding in confirmation. “Will she do the same to Peter?”

“It’s been three years Tony,” she says, heartbrokenly. Loki can feel her hopelessness, knowing that Peter is like a younger brother to her, knowing how much she’s lost. To have someone you love being held by someone you once knew, knowing that the person she used to know could be extremely different, it hurts her. “Things change, people change. If she’s the same as when I knew her then yes, but if she’s managed to stay with HYDRA and not get taken out by our purge of them, who knows.”

“Regardless,” he says, getting back into the conversation, “we know Beck was in Berlin. We know they want to keep Peter alive. And if her real name is Monica Avelli, then we can have FRIDAY search her name. But our best bet is to go after Beck.”

“We need to split into teams,” Nat muses. “Beck expects us to complete tasks for him, and if HYDRA’s involved then we need to be on the lookout for more attacks. Steve, who we got that can work right now?”

“Everyone in the room, plus Clint.” That’s most of the Avengers at least.

“Alright. Wanda, Vision, Loki, Bruce, and Harley, you’re going to Berlin. Steve, Bucky, and Sam will work on monitoring HYDRA while me, Tony, Rhodey, and Clint deal with Beck’s task stuff. If T’Challa and Shuri want to help, they’ll join the Berlin group, and if Strange comes poking around, he’ll join the HYDRA team. Got it?”

Everyone nods. It makes sense, sending the lesser known Avengers to Berlin, putting the most known on the other two groups. Putting the two spies on the task group also makes sense, as they will be the ones who need it the most and Steve, Bucky, and Sam work the best together as a small team, especially against HYDRA units. Loki appreciates Nat’s quick work, being able to create groups so fast. She must have been thinking up groups before this.

“Alright crew, let’s get ready. I want everyone getting good sleep, because I know you’re all exhausted. We’re going to start everything tomorrow, because none of us are ready and most came from a battle. Peter will be safe for another night, so move it!”

They scatter after that, everyone leaving to head to their floor. Loki holds Harley back though. “Harley.”

“Loki.” He’s tense, scared. He looks how Loki imagines he’d look if he hadn’t learned to lock away his emotions, to keep them far away from his face.

“Will you be alright?” he asks, knowing how close he and Peter relied on each other to be there when dealing with sleep. Needing to have someone there, to keep each other safe. 

Harley quivers slightly, eyes shining with potential tears. “No,” he admits softly. “Not until we have Peter back.”

“Will you be able to sleep?” He knows the answer already, yet he asks it all the same. 

He shakes his head. “I’m going to take one of the sleeping pills we keep in the top cabinet, it won’t be great but it’ll be good enough.” Loki sighs but allows him to go. What else can he do but that?


	42. Hysterical Laughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes things just loose all sense and you can't puzzle through it.

His throat heals quickly, thankfully. With the smoothie acting as an ice pack plus a few hours to let his healing factor kick in, it wasn’t terrible. Sure, Peter wishes the doctor could interact with him more, or tell more of her story because there is so much more going on than what she told him, he knows it. But there’s nothing he can do, she disappeared soon after she told him to never thank her.

Which just led him to more questions than answers about her, something that is just adding another mark in a growing pattern that he thinks is how she is. You think you’re learning more about her, but all it leads to is more questions and unknowns. 

She’s a medical doctor, but she worked at a morgue. Her name’s Monica Avelli, suggesting an immigrant family, but she was working in Idaho. She joined HYDRA to unethically experiment on enhanced people, yet she hates screaming. She cut him open multiple times and did it on camera to scare his family, yet she apologized to him for hurting him so much that he passed out. She doesn’t want to be thanked, yet she’s promised to not experiment on him until he’s fully healed. She claims she’s done terrible things, which is probably true if she’s HYDRA, but she’s also been very accepting and even said she’d get T for him if he needed it. 

A walking ball of contradictions, MJ would say. A complex character with a grey moral code, as Loki would put it. One messed up lady, Ned’d blurt out. A puzzle missing pieces, his boyfriend would say. 

Harley...

Doctor Avelli mentioned that Mysterio had sent a video to his family, to the world, essentially holding his life and identity ransom. How is Harley taking this, having to watch him be cut open for a demonstration of their power and his inability to stop them? How is May feeling, knowing that her nephew could be outed because the Avengers made a false step? How is Tony, mentor and father figure number 3, handling the powerlessness he hates so much? How are his friends taking the knowledge that they got out, but he didn’t? How is his family, people who already struggle with loss and pain and being forced to watch as people they love are twisted and experimented on, torn apart an put back to together, how are they coping? 

He breathes in, out, letting his diaphragm expand in time with his breathes, trying to remember what Bruce always tells him. Meditation is not only for learning to be quiet, it’s learning to find your center, find peace. Focused breathing is just a way to focus on something without getting lost in one’s mind and thoughts. There’s no use in speculating how his family is doing, it’ll only hurt him more and send him into a panic. 

He snorts. He already got into a panic, and look where that left him. Injured, barely able to talk, and struggling to stay away from a second spiral. Not exactly the best situation, especially considering he’s in a HYDRA base and probably won’t make it out alive. 

“Good morning Peter,” Doctor Avelli greets him as she walks around. She’s wearing something new, a black turtleneck with black pants, her silvery lab coat ever present. 

“Is it morning?” he asks, voice still raspy but not too bad. She presses a glass of water to his lips as she picks up a tablet, him drinking from the glass as she scrolls through something. 

“It is morning, according to my clock,” she replies. “Can’t trust it too much though, the HYDRA agents like to change the time sometimes, just to throw me off. I wouldn’t know if they did it so far, haven’t seen the sun in months. Or the sky for that matter.” Peter finishes the water and she takes the glass away, moving to her desk to open up her laptop.

“Why haven’t you seen the sky?” he asks her. “I thought they trusted you.”

She laughs, one long note of chilling humor that echoes through the empty lab. Peter shivers at the pure wrongness radiating from it, screaming at him that it isn’t true laughter, it isn’t happy no matter what it seems to project. “HYDRA, trust me? Oh Peter, you really are pure. If only the world could work like how you see it, then maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.” She smiles to herself, as if reveling in a joke only she knows. “HYDRA never trusts it’s scientists, not after what Zola did. Besides, I was taken in when I was twenty-eight, pretty close to the cut off of HYDRA recruits. You either were born in HYDRA, recruited in early, or life screwed you over before thirty so you somehow got in. I’m in that later category and it was hell. They never trust recruits who joined later in life, and especially not scientists.We’re dangerous, you could say.”

“Dangerous how?” Peter asks. Maybe this can give him more insight into who she is and what HYDRA’s doing, and maybe even why the hell is Mysterio working with Nazis. Or it could horribly backfire but whatever, be better than dying slowly in this room.

“Well, ones who are recruited in late have their whole life outside. They know what’s out there and can’t be as easily influenced, plus they’re more likely to be spies. They’re also usually untrained, which means they have to be trained but because they’re older it’s harder to ingrain it into them. As for scientists, it’s the usual fear of people who know more than you.” She fiddles with a pen as she continues. “Schmidt was a science experiment to become enhanced, and, well, a red skull is terrifying but it also is a giant warning sign. Not to mention, he trusted a brilliant scientist, Zola, who turned him into that. It doesn’t help that for all Zola created for HYDRA, they were still defeated, banished into the shadows. Sure, he did manage to create a super soldier serum similar to Captain America, but it produced the Winter Solider, a very high maintenance weapon-”

“Bucky is not a weapon!” Peter growls, interrupting her. 

“Ah, sorry,” she says, blinking in confusion. “I forgot you know him outside of the news. I only have what HYDRA allows me to know about him so I just used the words everyone else uses to describe him.” Peter blinks, then nods slightly, accepting her apology. “Well, it only lead to the Winter Solider, whose mind had to be wiped after every mission to keep him from breaking free, and a death squad no one could control, with or without the words. Of course, now those are gone, either healed and de-triggered or dead. I don’t know which is kinder,” she whispers as an afterthought. Something tells him that she knows what she’d choose, and it wouldn’t be Bucky’s route. “So, while HYDRA relies on us, they don’t trust us,” she continues after a pause. “I do get to see the sun every once in a while, however with Mysterio’s alliance I haven’t been allowed out like I would have.”

“Why’s that?” he asks, watching as she starts to type something out. What’s so different about their alliance that she can’t be let out? Does HYDRA not trust Mysterio either?

She chuckles. “You must understand that neither actually want to work with each other, it just so happens that their needs aligned, not to mention their mutual hatred of the Avengers. They don’t trust him to leave me alone, and they also don’t trust me to not try and escape with him. It’s quite a tangled web of mistrust and weapons,” she comment. “Lies and bargains, trades and promises both intend to break once the other has outlived their usefulness.”

“And where do you fall in that?”

“Me? Oh, it doesn’t really matter to me,” she replies, leaning back in her chair. “Politics, trust, backstabbing, it’s all too complicated for me. I prefer the complexity of genetic mutations and the affects of different serums on humans, at least then it makes sense. At least there, no one can hurt me, it’s just me and numbers and that oh so human ability to adapt to anything thrown at it.”

Peter finds himself agreeing with her, having gotten so absorbed with calculations and chemical bonds and the effects that can be created that he loses track of time and his sense of self, mind speeding ahead as his body scrambles to keep up, not quite aware of what he’s doing until suddenly he’s jolted out of his mind to find himself mid-equation for new webs, a whole new suit waiting for him to test it out sitting behind him. It’s terrifying, it’s exhilarating, it’s a love and a passion for something that takes over and refuses to let go. It’s as if he gets into such a rhyme that everything fades out and all he knows is the ideas, racing through his mind and into reality without any conscious thought.

“It’s like tapping into a river you never knew existed and letting it sweep you away until suddenly you wake up on its banks, pebbles and sea glass scattered around you, without knowing how exactly you ended up with all the creations of the river around you,” he sums up.

“Exactly,” she agrees, snapping her fingers. He flinches, terrified he’ll feel his molecules tearing himself into dust again. “Shit no no, you’re okay, Thanos is dead! You’re not going to dust,” she pleads, suddenly in front of him. “I- uh, can you copy my breathing?” She makes exaggerated breathing, and he would laugh at the sight of a psychotic doctor, who has literally cut him open and watched him knit himself back together, trying to calm him down from a trigger by taking obnoxiously big breathes, if it warren’t for the fact that his mind’s trying to drag him down into memory lane while he fights to stay here, in the moment. 

So he latches onto the sound of her breathing, the sight of her exaggerated breathes, the calmness she’s trying to project. It’s the opposite of what dusting was like, of the panic and as they went, of the pain echoing in every cell of his body as they disappeared, breaking and tearing apart, until nothing was left. But that’s not now, now is calm. There’s the soft inhale and exhale, the sound of air rushing in and rushing out, lungs expanding and contracting. 

He doesn’t know when his breathing finally reached calm, when his heart stopped racing, when the memories receded to the back of his mind. But his breath does calm, his heart does resume normal beating, and his memories do withdraw from the front of his mind. “So... how about we both agree to never snap, yeah?” he asks with a borderline hysterical laugh.

She joins in with the same high, hysterical laugh until they’re cackling like they’ve lost their minds. Maybe he has. The stress, fear, and over all shittyness of his life could ever well have caused him to lose his mind, it’d be inline with most of the events so far. 

Eventually they calm down, Doctor Avelli sitting back in her chair with tears running down her cheeks, clutching her stomach. “I don’t think I’ve laughed like that in a while,” she muses out loud.

“HYDRA?” he asks, already knowing the answer, but it’s polite to prompt people to continue all the same. 

“Yeah, shocking that a close-lipped organization of cold-blooded killers wouldn’t be a great place to laugh,” she comments dryly. “Odd right?”

“Super weird,” Peter agrees. “Isn’t very in character for them.”

“Well to be fair, no one’s always in character,” the doctor points out. “Like me, I don’t usually end up hysterically laughing with someone I’m clearing for experimentation today, yet here we are. I’m guessing you don’t usually do that either?”

“Yeah, this isn’t exactly my thing,” Peter laughs quietly, finding the whole situation too weird and waaaay too complicated to even begin to try and untangle his feelings on the matter.


	43. Sunrises For A Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So how's Bruce doing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: past suicide attempts, past suicidal character

Meditation helps, it really does. It slows down the lungs and heartbeat, helps you find your center. Makes it feel like you have control over something without being scared. And to a guy who could burst into a big green man who has an ingrain desire for destruction, to let out all the pain and anger that he normally keeps so well locked up inside, well, finding peace and a center inside of him is pretty good. And it works every time. 

Well, normally it does. Bruce sighs, falling out of his straight-backed criss-cross position, laying back on his yoga mat in defeat. Did Nat tell them to rest up? Yeah. But he can’t exactly go to sleep all wound up like this, not with all the pressure building from everything. Meditation usually helps with that, lets him calm down and quiet the ever spiraling thoughts and worries, enough to allow him to sleep. But tonight those thoughts and worries refuse to be subdued.

He was there, when they got Ned and MJ back. He heard that shot fired, the one that injured MJ. He heard the shots firing as they tried to shot Tony and the others. He got thrown around the Quinjet when Loki teleported him to safety. He put pressure on MJ’s wound as the others scrambled to get her and Ned to the med bay. He watched as his smart, dorky intern who’s always terrible at lying but will do anything for his friends sat motionless in a chair as they hooked MJ to machines. He saw the sorrow on Harley’s face when he found out that they hadn’t gotten Peter, and Loki was missing. He knows Tony locked himself in his lab as soon as he knew they were alright. And helplessly watching Peter, unconscious Peter, Peter whose identity and life is on the line, watching them torture him, put him through unethical experiences that knocked him out, just adds to that burden. 

And sure, Loki knows where he might be. At the very least, they’ll be able to get Mysterio, who should be able to lead them to Peter. But if a HYDRA scientist, a very morally gray character from what he can tell, is mixed up in this, that means HYDRA, which means they aren’t going to willingly hand over Peter. Which means they’ll have to fight.

‘ _Hulk don’t want to keep fighting_ ,’ Hulk whispers in his mind sadly. Bruce knows Hulk enjoys letting their rage out, but he also knows that Hulk enjoys the lack of destruction he’s caused in the last few months. He enjoyed his two years of competition in the arena, but Bruce still wakes up in the middle of the night with blood on their hands, neither knowing who’s in control. Some days the taste of sandy dirt lingers in his mouth, no matter how many times he brushes his teeth. Some days he thinks they’ll never get rid of the knowledge that they killed thousands of people, aliens, whatever just because they had the power. 

‘ _I know buddy, neither do I._ ’ That’s why he retired, decided after Thanos was completely killed and everyone was brought back that he and Hulk were done being part of the main team. He works with the team as himself, works at SI, spars with the others as Hulk and sometimes as himself, does yoga and meditates to connect himself and Hulk better, and learns to be at peace. 

‘ _But Peter needs to be protected._ ’ He doesn’t quite understand the relationship Peter and the Hulk have, but they seem to have created a friendship in the few interactions they’ve had. It’s sweet, and reassuring to see Hulk interact well with others.

‘ _Yeah. If it comes down to it, can you fight one more time for him?_ ’ Just one more time, if needed. Then they’ll be done with fighting for real. Sparring, sure. Friendly competitions, yeah. But no more real fighting, no more having to kill. They can be more than that, he knows they can be.

‘ _Yes._ ’

‘ _Thank you._ ’

He hasn’t quite gotten use to Hulk talking to him, even though it’s been years since their first conversation. Maybe it’s the fact that Hulk sees and experiences the world from Bruce’s view while also getting his emotions through their bond or whatever it is that causes Hulk to not need to actually talk to Bruce that often or maybe it’s because Bruce is still learning to accept Hulk as a part of himself without feeling like a monster. But they are one, nothing can change that now. And it’s reassuring, some days, having someone who’s always there, who can be strong enough for both of them. 

Bruce doesn’t have to hold on to control as tightly, because Hulk understands how much it means to Bruce that he doesn’t black out and wake up to the knowledge that he murdered people or destroyed another city. Hulk doesn’t feel as threatened all the time because Bruce reassures him that things are better. They both understand each other better, so they work better. Neither is as unstable as they used to be, Bruce’s suicidal tendencies gone and Hulk much more controlled. Both are better. 

‘ _Bruce needs to sleep._ ’ A glance at the clock tells him that it’s ten pm, and a glance out the bay windows confirm that. 

‘ _Yeah, I probably should. Thanks buddy._ ’ Bruce gets off of his mat and rolls it up, sticking away in the cabinet he normally keeps it. Not bothering to change out of his sweatpants and t-shirt, knowing it’s almost exactly the same as his actual pajamas, he slides under the covers and asks FRIDAY to dim the lights. She does so, drawing the blinds too. Time to get some sleep.

A gentle knocking on his door wakes Bruce up, slowly bring him back from the wisps of a dream he only remembers the feel of. Something soft, safe. It was a good dream, compared to the too-often nightmares that are glorified trauma highlights from his life. Though really, that seems to be the norm of what nightmares are in the Tower. It’s actually impressive how everyone who manages to be a hero also has a ton of baggage and trauma, though maybe that’s what makes them heroes? 

Brushing the thought aside for a moment, something to definitely come back to at a later date, Bruce gets out of his bed and walks to the door, opening to find Loki holding two steaming mugs of tea in hand. “May I come in?” Loki asks. “It’s they/them for now.”

“Sure, c’mon in,” Bruce says, opening the door wider and allowing the god to walk in. They take a seat on the couch facing the windows, now open, sunlight slowly filtering in. It’s probably around five or six in the morning, not bad. Loki holds out a mug to him as he sits down next to them. “So, what brings you to me this early?”

“Ah, I apologize if I woke you up,” Loki says as Bruce takes a sip of his tea. Mmm, lemon and mint, one of his favorite flavors of tea. He can’t remember the real name of the flavor, usually sticking to lavender or coffee most days because they’re the easiest to make when in a rush, but the tin never runs empty of it so he doesn’t have to worry about it. 

“You did, but no need to apologize,” Bruce replies. “I was probably going to wake up soon anyway.” He did set an alarm for six thirty after all, and he rarely slept past seven o’clock even without it. 

“I suppose that’s true,” Loki muses, sipping their tea. “Good sleep is never present in this household.” 

Bruce snorts. Understatement much? “I don’t think it’s possible for us at this point,” he admits. “We all have too much baggage or trauma or both to actually be healthy and get kind of sleep.”

Loki hums in agreement. “As to why I am here,” they say, steering the conversation back to Bruce’s original question, “I wanted to check in with you. Everything’s been so...”

“Chaotic? Awful? Worse than broken bones?” Bruce offers.

Loki cracks a smile. “Yeah, that. And I haven’t been able to talk to you, but I figured now might be our best chance to talk before it gets chaotic again.” Bruce laughs at that. “So how are you doing Bruce?”

“I’m not doing great, but I’m not screaming either so at least that’s good?” Loki nods, sipping more of their tea. “I know I won’t really feel alright until Peter’s safe and Mysterio’s locked up on the RAFT, but at least we have somewhere to start with, right?” 

“Very true.” Bruce sips his tea as more sun rays find their way into his room, making everything look like he put a red/orange filter on it. “If you don’t want to go with me to Germany…”

“No, no, let me stop you right there,” Bruce says, turning to Loki slightly more. “Look, I know I wouldn’t be much help except as maybe Hulk if we really need him and a medic which we probably will need, but if I stay at the Tower then there’s nothing for me to do. I’ll just be anxiously pacing the floors, not even being able to work on my projects. At least in Germany I’ll be doing something productive.”

Loki watches him for a moment, then nods in understanding. “Very well. Though due try to keep Hulk internal, we don’t want to add to our property damage list. Anthony may stop buying tea for a week.”

Bruce throws his head back and laughs at that. It’s a common occurrence from Tony by now. If any of the Avengers makes a mess of things, then Tony takes away one of their favorite things for a week. When Clint egged the car of an ambassador that he hated (something about calling arrows stupid?), Tony stopped all Mario Cart games for a week. When Thor burned the Bifrost’s runes into a Tower balcony, Tony stopped buying Poptarts for a week. The one person that doesn’t apply to is Nat, though that may just be because she’s sneaky and doesn’t leave behind destruction, or that Tony’s still afraid of her. The one time it didn’t happen and it wasn’t Nat was when Steve and Clint egged Trump Tower. They got takeout from like, five different restaurants that night and partied until morning. 

“We could still get some from the store ourselves,” he points out. “We’re not incompetent like Clint.”

“True,” Loki acknowledges, “but that’s boring and dull.”

Bruce rolls his eyes. Loki may be the most complicated person he’s ever known, but they still are the same as when he first met them. Salty and used to being rich, though that has soften to be more of a joke than anything insensitive. “Whatever. Let’s just hope me and Hulk have no reason to switch places.”

They laugh. “Fair enough.” They sit there for a bit, sipping tea and quietly watching the sun bathe his room in light. “You got an excellent view,” Loki whispers.

“Tony said it might help me, to want to keep getting up every day and stuff. Said if I could see the sun rise in the morning over the city, then maybe I’d find it worth getting up for, and then give me something to keep living for.” Bruce looks out over the city, reds and oranges lighting it all up, reflecting off of buildings and creating an almost ethereal look to the city. “I think he was right, because it really did help, to have a reason to keep getting up.”

“He told you right away?” Loki asks curiously, Bruce glancing over to see their eyes glinting in the sunlight. “Isn’t that counterproductive?”

Bruce laughs. “Oh he never told me right away. He told me that after my therapist cleared me to take my pills by myself instead of having someone give them to me and watch me swallow them.”

“Suicide prevention?” He hums as a yes. It was a low for him, but he’s gotten better in the past months, years. Got close after the Snap, but Tony kept driving for a solution which kept him from falling too far down that road. “Well I’m glad it worked.”

“So am I,” he says, watching the city wake up. “So am I.”


End file.
